Into the Woods
by PICKET-FENCES-CLOSER
Summary: A horror unfolds as two children are found on the side of the road, and a Rome citizen disappears into a nightmare. John and Max deal with a surprise in their relationship, and the romance between Kenny and Kimberly comes to light in the midst of the horror.
1. Chapter 1

**10 Years Ago- Killers Den –**

"Shh, My Love," he smiled, smoothing back her long blond hair. "You're home and safe now."

Jocelyn shook her head and scrambled back from him, as far as her binds would allow. "Please! Let me go! I won't tell anyone."

"Now, you know that is not true. I don't enjoy liars. You are home now."

The others…the stories I heard. It's all true? "I don't belong here."

"You will be a lovely addition to my collection," he continued, stroking her flat stomach with his thumbs. "You will provide for our family here, Laila."

"That's not my name."

"I have named you now," he said, removing her clothes completely. "It is time for you to begin your duties to me."

* * *

 **2 Years Ago – Rome – John & Max**

Max looked through her hair at her date. Don't pick a fight. Don't antagonize him. He's being very sweet to me…like he knows how nervous I am with him.

"Max?"

She smiled at him, despite her nerves. "John?"

"You were a million miles away."

She settled back against his side, more comfortable than she wanted to admit with his arm slung around her shoulders, his fingers resting on her bare shoulder. "Just enjoying the good company."

Way too pretty, John thought, just looking at her. Max, in this lacey top, tight jeans, with her hair all blown out, nervous and flirting with me at the same time. "Well, my very lovely date, we have all night."

She cocked her head to the side and just looked at him. "And where are you taking me?"

Researched her, he thought, not a dinner and movie kind of woman. As much as I want to ogle her all night, show off this very beautiful and sexy date on my arm…she is a bundle of nerves right now. Casual, slowly, she didn't pull away when I put my arm around her, instead she snuggled in closer to me and wrapped her arm around my waist and smiled at me. My prickly and feisty deputy. "Up to Windsor, there is a concert in the park, and then I hear you're a bit of a pool shark. Drinks, wings and pool?"

She broke into a grin. "Where did you hear that?"

"I have my sources."

Flirt, don't be a freak, I can do this. He is a great guy, who is in my head, and I really like his arm around me. I can do this…I don't care if people stare at us. I do like talking to him. It's like he sees who I am underneath it all. "Do you?"

He brushed her long hair, letting his fingers drift down her cheek by his car. Ah, I like her. "I'm not divulging them. Come on. Let's have fun tonight.

Oh, that smile, she thought, I do prefer it to him scowling at me. I'm going to be kissing him by the end of the night…I really want to right now. Stop it. Date. Have fun. Smiling back at him. "Fun, huh?"

He grinned back at her. She's flirting with me, she knows what she's doing right now…these clothes, perfume, that smile on her face, how she fits in my arms. "Can you handle that?"

Do it, she thought, go out with him. I want to do this with him. "Take me away."

* * *

 **10 Years Ago- Killers Den –**

"There, there," she murmured, washing Jocelyn down. "You're one of us."

"Please," Jocelyn begged. "Let me go. I want to go home."

"You are home. You are his," she smiled. "We are all his, Laila."

She shook her head. "Never."

"You will bare him children, they will live with the others. This is our home, he is our lord and master. You will follow our ways here very soon."

Jocelyn shivered at that. No…I won't. I can't stay here. "I have family, friends, they'll find me."

She sighed. "You were meant to be found by him. To join us. You will be bound to this bed until you truly become one of us and contribute a child to our family, Laila. You must let him into you."

She stared at the woman, not much older than she. "How long have you been here for?"

She smiled at that. "I was born here. My mother bore me with him and now I reciprocate baring my father's fruit."

* * *

 **2 Years Ago – Rome – John & Max**

"Really?" John teased, as she sunk the final ball. "I had my doubts."

She looked up and smiled at him. "You didn't believe the rumors?"

"I needed the hard evidence. You're good."

Oh, he's handsome…really handsome when he smiles like that, she thought, why did I push back at this? "We can go again, really make your case."

He grinned back at her, taking her hand in his and feeling relieved when she intertwined her fingers with his. She's very touchable right now. "I'll stipulate to it. Come on, let's get out of here. You want to take a walk? It's a nice night."

I want you to not let go of me, she thought, I want to keep talking to you. I want your lips and hands on me. Don't rush it, let it flow naturally…we have nothing but time. "I'd love that."

"Max," he said, keeping her close under his arm as they made their way down the street. Ah, don't kiss her yet, I want to kiss her. "What's going on in there?"

"In my head?" she smiled, looking at him. "Just that I'm having a really great time with you…and I'm so sorry I was being ridiculous and stupid about us going out. Thanks for the second chance."

He held her gaze, seeing her flush as that. Screw it, she's here now, looking soft and vulnerable, ah Max. "You can even have a third. Max, I really like spending time with you, I want to see where we go."

She smiled at him, wrapping her arms around his waist and looked up into his smiling eyes. "You really are too good for me. I'm a disaster. Relationship dynamite. I blow it every time. I pick crazy people. I'm really bad at this. You don't have any deep dark secrets?"

His grin broadened. Adorable, awkward, and suddenly very wary. "You're not bad at this. I like you, Max, you're smart, funny, and a bit softer and kinder than you let on. I like talking to you, touching you and…No deep dark secrets. Single dad, just trying to do the best I can…and that includes dating you."

"See, way too good for me."

"Get over yourself. You're great. Sure, you know how to irritate and antagonize me, but…there isn't anyone else I want to spend time with."

Damn it, she thought, just damn it with him. What am I doing? I can't stop touching him. He makes me smile. "We should do this again then."

He tugged her closer and rested his forehead against hers. "We should."

I need to get away from him…damn it Max. You're acting like a lovesick fool with him. His hands, oh his hands on my waist, that smile… "John?"

"I love how you say my name."

She nodded, snuggling in closer to him. I'm doing this…Smiling up at him again. "John."

He smiled at her again, his fingers tangled in her hair. "Max."

She nodded, as they just looked at each other. "What are we doing?"

"Things we should be doing in private."

She shifted in his arms, as his fingers trailed gently down her face. Wrapping her arms around him, she let out a sigh at his gentle touch. "This is private."

He smiled at that, not taking his eyes off her. "Max."

I can't even think, she thought, his roaming hands and… "I'm going to kiss you if you don't do it first."

His grin broadened at that, as he pulled her in. "Come here, Honey."

* * *

 **10 Years Ago- Killers Den –**

Jocelyn rubbed her swollen stomach in wonder and horror. I can't…I can't have this baby here. Wherever here is…how can no one know? Trees, nothing but trees, this cabin and the caves. These chains…he's going to take my baby…then I'll have another and another…like the others. I need to save my baby. No…

"Laila," he smiled, laying his hands on her stomach. "How are you feeling?"

She stared at him for a long moment. "I need a doctor. I can't have this baby here."

"All my children are born here, Laila. This is your home now, just like our baby."

The children in the woods, she thought, I hear them laughing. A pack…with the mothers. The pack I'm joining. He's touching me…I hate him. I completely hate him.

* * *

 **2 Years Ago – Rome – John & Max**

"You're way too good at this," John murmured, as they stood in each other's arms. Kissing her again, she wrapped herself around him. "Max."

She kissed him back, laughing as he nuzzled her neck and not letting her go. "Oh, what are you doing to me?"

He smiled, as he pressed his lips to hers again. "Something better done in private."

Oh, I like this, she thought, as they kissed again. Breaking a part, she sighed, as he hugged her tightly to him. I like him. Complicated…it feels so easy right now…I just want his arms around me. "We have all night."

He tilted her face to his. Beautiful, he thought, so soft and feminine right now. Where is that prickly deputy that I fight with? Ah, Max. "What are you doing tomorrow?"

"I kind of want to do this."

He nodded, brushing his lips against hers for a brief moment. "Kara has ballet and then a playdate. Lunch?"

She nodded at that, as he combed through her hair. "I'd like that."

"And I have to get home to that four-year-old," he admitted, as they just looked at each other. "And I want to keep kissing you."

"You can kiss me whenever you want…except at work?" she teased, pressing her lips to his one more time before interlocking her hand with his. "John, are you okay?"

Dangerous, he thought, what she's waking up in me. This flirty, smiling, incredible kisser, who I'm really enjoying tonight with. "You surprised me."

"How?"

"I expected my prickly, feisty, argumentative, deputy," he smiled. "I like this side of you."

She broke into a grin at that. "Is that because I kissed you?"

"Not going to lie, Honey, that has a lot to do with it."

She laughed, as they made their way to his car. "Let's keep it up then."

* * *

 **Rome – Present**

"Jesus Christ," Kenny said, as he brought their patrol car to a stop. "What is this?"

Max felt her heart leap into her throat. No, this is…What? "I don't know."

"What are you doing?" Kenny asked, as she made to get out of the car. "Look at that."

She looked at his hand on her arm before back at the road. "They're dirty and scared looking kids, Kenny."

"Look at their teeth."

Max stifled a gasp. "Points? Someone…oh. Who could do this? We can't leave them here."

"Stay in the car."

"Seriously?"

"I know you're all mom these days with Littleton's kid, but these ones aren't her."

"I know that."

Such a mom, Kenny thought, it's nice to see this side of her coming out. How she lights up with Littleton, she smiles more, she opened herself up to him…they don't let it show at work, but Littleton adores her. She loves his daughter…Max has never been this happy. "Then don't let it get in the way."

"Do you really think I would do that?"

Smiling, taking his kid to the park, ballet, kissing him…she is going to marry him. I'm surprised he hasn't asked her yet. "I think they've made you go soft and it's not a bad thing. Stay put and back me up."

"Be careful."

* * *

 **A Killers Den – Present**

Run, they ran, I can run too. No one will ever find us here again. They won't know what to do. All they will do is mark another to join us. No one will ever truly leave here. They probably found her already. No…I'm his now, I can't go back. I've seen and done too much.

"Laila."

She looked up, smoothing her tattered rags. "Solomon, I've been waiting for you."

 **Present - Rome**

"They bit me, Max," Kenny said. "There is something wrong with them."

She stared at him. "They're kids, Kenny."

"We found them on the side of the road, Max," he stated. "Screaming and eating squirrels. What? You want to take them home with you?"

"What's your problem?"

"I got bit by a feral kid and you're going all mom on me."

"Do you really want to discuss this now? Something happened to these kids…look at them."

"The doctors are coming to look at them. Come on, we got a case to file."

Max glanced behind her…what happened to them? Kara hasn't made me go soft either…I do adore her and my life with her and John. Focus, Max, focus. Who could do this to kids? Filthy, in rags, malnourished…they can't even speak. We'll catch them. Maybe Kenny is right, this is breaking my heart a bit. And the other thing…that made John's eyes light up, kiss me…I don't think I've ever seen him that happy. Softie. I'm kind of liking it. "Yeah. Let's go."

"Mama!" one called, as they left. "Mama!"

* * *

 **Present – John & Kara**

"Is Max coming over?" Kara asked, looking up from coloring on the couch in his office. "Do you think she'll like my picture?"

John looked up from the brief on his desk. "You know Max loves your pictures."

"Are you having a sleepover?"

Things Max and I need to talk about. Things she's unsure and afraid to really confront. How shaky she was…how it wasn't what we planned on. She isn't ducking me, I know she isn't ducking me. "You want Max to stay over?"

"Daddy, you and Max love each other."

"How do you know that?"

Kara giggled. "You kiss her all the time. Daddy, I'm not stupid."

"Yeah, Kid? You like Max too?"

"She takes care of me, Daddy. We get ice cream after ballet. Is Max going to be my mommy?"

Ah, I want her to be. She is good with Kara…and she's going to be great with what we're 99% sure is growing inside her. She shouldn't be on patrol, she should be seeing a doctor to get it confirmed. Tonight, we're sitting down and doing this. "What would you think of that?"

Kara smiled and put down her crayons. "She is my mommy, Daddy. Not from her tummy, that was my other mommy. I want her to live with us"

A lot of changes…on top of me wanting to marry her. She won't say yes because she's probably pregnant. She'll balk and push back at that. Slowly, I need to ease her into this. "She is going to live with us. Remember? She's moving in."

"Then Max can be my mommy?"

"Don't call her Mommy yet, Kid. Max loves being your friend and doing things with you. Let me talk to her first about it."

"Can I still give her my picture?"

"She can add it to her collection. Come on, pack it up, we'll go find her and go home."

* * *

 **Rome - Present**

"Mama, huh?" Kenny said, looking at her. "It was the first clear word."

Max nodded. "The search party is out there…if she's there, something happened to these kids. This isn't shock, this is…them not developing right."

"Good call, Mama."

She shot him a look. "Is there something you want to say to me?"

Max and Littleton. Her with his kid. Her smiling with him, kissing him, completely committed to him and the family they have with his daughter. The relationship you never see at work.

"The shrink is with them."

Max shuddered despite herself. Lost kids…not just that, abandoned, no one is taking care of them. Damn it. I will never do that to this baby, or what I'm fairly certain is a baby in my belly. Or wherever babies actually grow. My uterus? Focus, Max, focus. I need to get it confirmed. I'm going to be a mom…John is an amazing dad, Kara is the best kid…who I love. We're a family…and we're having a baby. I think. Damn it.

"Max?"

"Sorry, I," she started, shaking her head. Stop thinking about this maybe baby. "We won't know anything until tomorrow?"

"Max!" Kara cried, throwing her arms around her and hugging her tightly. "Are you coming over?"

Max hugged her back, breaking into a grin. I can't resist her. "I think so. Hi."

Ah, John thought, my girls. I never thought Max would be so good with Kara or that Kara would like her this much. She is becoming Kara's mom in a lot of ways…and of what's in there. "Hi yourself. Are you ready?"

My ride, she thought, mentally kicking herself. I can't duck him. I need to deal. Oh, he's smiling at me. I do practically live with them…and I'm about to really live with them. "Uh, I think so. We're done?"

That kid is wrapped around Max and she is hugging her back. Smiling at this kid, Littleton can't take his eyes off her, and she is glowing. How have they been together this long? "Yeah. We won't have anything until tomorrow. Get out of here."

* * *

 **2 Years Ago – Rome – John & Max**

"Hey," John said, opening his front door. "I'm glad you're here."

Meeting Kara, she thought, I've met her before but…dinner with them. After a month of really good dates with John…who I still haven't gone to bed with. I'm kind of liking the slow burn of this. "Me too."

He brushed his lips over hers for a long moment. Dinners, drinks, long talks almost every night, he thought, I'm falling for her. Nah, I already have, this antagonistic deputy, who is way to touchable in leggings and a soft sweater. "You look great."

She smiled at that, as she kissed him back. "You're biased."

"And so very kissable."

She leaned into his strong hug, inhaling the scent that was all him, before he released her. I didn't think it would feel this way, that we would connect so well…that I can really talk to him. I really like him…heading into more than like. "Anytime."

"Daddy?"

"Hey, Kid," he said, as she ran to him. "You remember Max?"

She nodded, as John picked her up with a grin. "She's a deputy. Do you kiss all the deputies?"

"Just Max. Can you say hi?"

Oh, she is adorable, Max thought, and he's such a good dad. Just a good man.

"Hi, Max," Kara said. "Are you my daddy's girlfriend?"

I can't answer that, we haven't even talked about it yet. One month of dating…I haven't been seeing anyone else. Neither has he. I'm not sure I'm ready to label it yet. "Your dad and I are really good friends."

"Who are getting to know each other, Kara," John stated. "Remember? I want you to get to know Max too. Are you up for that?"

"Are you going to kiss her again?"

Probably, he thought, kissing Max is one of my favorite things. She should stay tonight, we can…is she there? She has to be there. "Maybe after dinner. Didn't you have something you wanted to show her?"

Kara looked at Max, as John put her on her own feet. She reached out and tugged on Max's hand. "Come on. I want to show you my picture."

* * *

 **Present – Rome – John & Max**

"I'm not avoiding it," Max stated, as she sat cross-legged on his couch eating popcorn. "I know what the six tests said and…I'm not sure..how are you so sure about this?"

"You are a wonderful mom to Kara. You know she thinks of you like that."

"She's easy to love, John."

He wrapped his arm around her and squeezed her for a long moment. Dropping a kiss on the top of her head, he tilted her face to his. "So are you."

"Are we ready for this? You're such a great dad, we didn't plan on this and…it makes it real if a doctor confirms it. Not just the home tests and me throwing up in the morning. It means we're really having a baby."

"I know it changes stuff, Honey. You're about moved in already."

Don't propose, she thought, please don't ask me yet. I'll say yes and it's just…oh, it's a lot. "I know."

He felt her flat stomach before smiling at her. "If you're not...you want to try? You know, to have a baby."

She broke into a grin at that. I do, I really do. "Yes."

"And, don't get mad," he said. "Doctor. Tomorrow. We need to know."

She bit her lip, laying her hand over his on her stomach. Our baby…our family here together. Kara is going to be an amazing big sister. This was never what I pictured growing up, but it doesn't matter. John is my guy, the guy I love with everything in me. "Will you come with me?"

He kissed her again and she melted against him. Ah, Max, she is going to be a great mom. "To find out if I'm going to be a dad again? Where else would I be?"

She looked at him for a long moment. "As nervous as I am about…being pregnant…having a baby…John, I'm excited to do it with you. We're going to make a great baby."

* * *

 **Sheriff Station – Present**

"Mama," he said nodding at his sister. "She Mama."

She shook her head. "Not Mama."

He frowned at her. "Need a Mama for Papa."

"Baby. She have baby. New Mama."

"We find."

* * *

 **Thayer Hospital**

"Breathe," John smiled, giving her a long squeeze. "You're okay."

"I threw up for 15 minutes this morning," she trailed off, snuggling close to him. "We're doing this."

"Making Kara a big sister, Mom?"

She looked at him with that. "Oh, that sounds weird."

"And you're going to be a great mom. You've got a big heart in there, Max. We can have a dozen babies."

She groaned at that. "I'm having trouble wrapping my head around one right now. John? I want to tell Kara we're making her a big sister…I love you so much."

He smiled at her, squeezing her again. Ah, Max…she is glowing. Radiant. Even if she is a bundle of nerves. Move in. Baby. I want to marry her. "I love you too."

Jill smiled as she looked at them. They are a beautiful couple, a lightening rod here, but so sure together. Even Max looking really nervous about this, she lights up with John, who can't take his eyes off her. "Hello, you two."

Max looked up, her heart pounding in her chest. "Hi."

"I have your rest results," Jill said, looking at the happy couple in front of her. Two years? They've been very private about this, but never hid it. "Congratulations. You're about eight weeks pregnant."

 **TBC**


	2. Chapter 2

**To the Reviewer who asked:** I don't hate the Max/Kenny relationship, I just thought they were more interesting as friends than as a couple.

* * *

 **John & Max- Present**

"You good?" he said, as they sat in the station parking lot together in his car. "You still with me?"

Pregnant, she thought, I knew I was. The tests, vomiting, how off I felt, but now…I'm having a baby. John's baby. The love of my life. Baby. Moving in together. I'm going to be a mom. "Yeah. Um, I'm good. Pregnant and good. Are you?"

"We're having a baby," he said, breaking into a grin. "The first of many?"

She smiled back at him. "Can we start with this one? John, I'm so excited but…it's…god, I'm going to be a mom."

"Kara asked me if she could call you Mommy."

Max looked at him with that. "Really?"

"She loves you."

"She's going to be an amazing big sister," Max trailed off. What will our baby look like? It doesn't matter…we made it together. We'll love and raise it together. "I need to go to work."

"You need to stay off the streets and let Jimmy know you're pregnant."

She looked at him again with that. "I know. I can't abandon Kenny on this case."

"The kids in the woods? The ones that called you Mama? Are they going to kidnap you and drag you to their cave in the woods?"

"Really?" she asked dryly. "I want to help them."

"You wouldn't be you if you didn't. You have to tell Jimmy, Max. It's going to be obvious eventually."

"I know. I will. Will you love me when I'm fat?"

"Do you need an assist? Not fat. Pregnant and growing our kid."

"Only if it's you. I'm wrapping my head around the fact I can grow a person in me."

"You're going to be great," he said, leaning across the car and kissing her. "I need to get to court. Don't get kidnapped."

She kissed him back, smiling as she did. This is so right. "I'm probably working through lunch. Dinner?"

"Kara has a sleepover. You and me? Adult time? Alone?"

"It's a date."

* * *

 **The Woods - Present**

"The children have chosen," Solomon said, standing above his family. "We will take her tonight."

Laila shuddered. Ten years, eight children…I can't escape. I can't leave my kids here. Solomon…I cannot leave him either. The world out there…I barely remember it. Don't bring another.

"Laila," he smiled, holding his hand out to her. "You will welcome her when she arrives."

"Yes, Master."

"Come, lovely Laila. We must prepare. Go hunt, Children. Prepare a feast for your new mother."

* * *

 **Rome – Kenny and Kimberly**

"They need to know."

Kim sighed, and adjusted the sheet around herself. "You know how they're going to react, Kenny. It doesn't matter that I'm 19…my Dad isn't going to accept it."

He slid in next to her, handing her a cup of coffee. "We're adults. It isn't like when you were in high school."

"No one will accept it."

That's what Max thought, about her and Littleton, Kenny thought. They ignored it all, and she's moving in with him. This doesn't have to be any different. "I don't want to hide this anymore."

Kim bit her lip. We're adults, it's been six months… "Okay. Tonight?"

"Tonight."

* * *

 **The Woods - Present**

The feast, Laila thought, looking at the pile of dead animals in the clearing. The children skinning them with their teeth and knives. For her…the one they chose to be their mother. The one in the car, driving to and from her boyfriend's house. Almost too old, but…it won't matter. She'll stay…no one will ever find her here. She'll be one of us.

* * *

 **Rome- Kenny & Max**

"You okay?" Kenny asked, seeing her pale and grab onto the chair. "Max?"

She looked up, forcing her nausea away. It's the size of a peanut. It isn't going to control my life. I can do this. "I'm good. Sorry. Just stood up to fast."

"You're not okay," Kenny stated, catching her arm and forcing her to sit. "You were throwing up the other day. What's going on?"

My partner and best friend…how do I not tell him? It's too soon. We're supposed to wait until the first trimester is up. No, this is different. This effects our work and…he and Jimmy need to know. What is he really going to think? He likes John, of course he likes John, he's supported our relationship, even if he was surprised by it. "Can we not here?"

He gestured to the break room and she stood slowly to follow him. Tell him. He's going to be overprotective. My baby. With John. We're building our family…moving in. How I love his gentle hands, kind heart, what a wonderful father to Kara he is, our long talks, his mind, integrity, that smile that makes me weak in the knees…the sex. How he doesn't let me get away with stuff. We're going to have an amazing baby.

"Max?" he pressed, shutting the door. "What's going on?"

"I just," she started, not quite looking at him. "I thought, we did it at home, but I was too freaked until today and…Ah, Kenny, I'm eight-weeks pregnant."

"Pregnant? You two are having a baby?"

Max broke into a grin at that. "Yeah. We're having a baby."

"You and Littleton."

"Of course, with him."

"When is the wedding?"

She smiled and shook her head. "No wedding. One thing at a time. I need to wrap my mind around being a mom."

"Please, you've been his daughter's mom for two years. That girl loves you. Max," he said. "Congratulations. This kid is lucky to have you as a mom…and Littleton as a dad."

"We're not telling people yet. You're my partner and you need to know. I need to tell Jimmy too. We're making Kara a big sister and oh, it's a lot. We're moving in together…we were doing that even before the pregnancy. He is a great dad, he really is such a good man…I didn't think I could feel this way."

"Are you getting sappy on me?"

"Yes. Let me be emotional for a few minutes because I'm pregnant."

"Get it out of your system. The kids are saying more. We need to get to the interrogation room, Mom."

"John called me that too…Oh, it sounds weirdly good to me."

Mom, he thought, just looking at her. She'll be his wife soon enough…and they'll have a houseful of kids. This is what she's always wanted underneath it all. A family. Ah, Max, she's glowing, smiling, she's going to be a mom. "You're going to be great."

She touched her stomach and smiled at him. "Thanks. We should go."

* * *

 **John & Max- 2 Years Ago**

"You're pretty."

Max looked up with from their coloring project. She is sweet. "So are you."

Kara giggled and handed her the purple crayon. "You were kissing Daddy."

I love kissing him. He makes me feel things…and smile. Laugh. I can tell him things. I really want to do more than kiss him. Don't think about that while I'm coloring with Kara. "I guess I was."

"Daddy really likes you. He lets me have extra ice cream and he only does that when he's really happy."

Max paused at that. "What kind of ice cream?"

"Chocolate chip. He gave me three scoops and no veggies."

"Ice cream is better."

"Will you eat ice cream with me too?"

Oh, this kid, how does John resist caving to her every demand? She's totally melting my heart. "I do love ice cream."

Kara nodded. "Daddy! Can Max and me have ice cream for dinner?"

Max looked up, seeing him watching them from the kitchen archway. I've never seen that expression before…something in his eyes when he's looking at me.

"Are you pulling Max into you battle for dessert for dinner?" John said, smiling at her. "Max don't fall for her cute act. This kid is a sugar junkie. She'd sell you out for a candy bar."

"Daddy!" Kara laughed, hugging Max and climbing in her lap. "I like Max. Don't tell her I'm bad."

Max froze for an instant at the four-year-old in her lap. Hesitating at John's surprised look, she hugged her back. "Nah, I don't believe you're bad for a minute, Kara. I think your dad is teasing you."

She's good, John thought, even with Kara jumping her. Smiling at my kid, who wrapped her arms around the woman who I think is becoming my girlfriend. "She has you snowed, Max. Kara, you're not making Max your accomplice in a cookie heist."

Kara giggled and hugged Max tighter for a long moment. "Daddy is silly."

Max shot him a grin at that. "I see that."

Achingly pretty, John thought, and looks perfectly content with Kara in her lap. "How about it you two? Dinner? Ice cream if you eat your vegetables, Kid. Go wash up."

"That sounds like a fair deal," Max admitted, as Kara scampered toward the bathroom. "It smells good."

John held his hand out to her and pulled her up. "She likes you."

"How do you resist her?" Max asked. "I'd give her gallons of ice cream."

"Stay strong," he smiled, pulling her close for a long moment. Pressing his lips to hers, he didn't let go of her. "I've had four years to fight back against her cuteness. She'd eat a roll of cookie dough if I let her."

Feeling content and secure under his arm, she snuggled in closer to him, wrapping her arms around his waist. Why did I fight him on this? I'm so falling for him. "She's a great kid. With a great dad."

He kissed her again with that. Ah, Max, he thought, I didn't see this soft side of you coming. "Stay with me tonight."

She nodded, ignoring her racing heart, as he kissed her again, as Kara came running back in. "I'd love to."

* * *

 **Rome- Present**

"Stunted development?" Max repeated. "They're obviously malnourished, they don't really speak and…who…how?"

"And they called you Mama," Kenny stated. Pregnant. I can't believe she's pregnant. She is glowing.

"They did not call me Mama. They were calling for their mom. Who for all we know is out there too."

Not through or searches, Jimmy thought, it's like the kids appeared out of thin air. "You've both heard the stories."

"About the kids in the woods?" Max asked.

"A madman kidnapping kids and raising them like wild animals? Every town has an urban legend like that," Kenny stated, looking at Max again. They called her Mama. No way, she isn't… "Kidnapping women and forcing them to bare his kids?"

"They called you Mama," Jimmy said, looking at Max.

She held her ground at that. "Isn't it always teenage girls that vanish? I'm almost 30. That's too old and…no. If this is…they won't want me."

"Over the last 25 years 15 teen girls and women have vanished on the outskirts of these woods," Jimmy said. "Never to be found. We're running these kid's DNA against the missing women. If they're targeting someone new…Max."

"No," she stated again. "I'm too old. I can't have…he can't…Jimmy, I'm pregnant. I'm the last person to be dragged off by a lunatic wanting to knock someone up."

"You're what?"

"I'm eight-weeks pregnant. We just had it confirmed this morning."

"You and John are having a baby."

She broke into a grin at that, really warming up to the idea. "Yes. It was a surprise, we really aren't telling anyone yet, but we are."

"Will it matter if these kids chose her?" Kenny asked. Stubborn, hardheaded, refusing to believe it. "Will it matter if she is already pregnant?"

"This isn't about me. It's about those kids."

* * *

 **Rome – Kimberly**

Damn, she thought, pulling her car over to the side of the backroads. Climbing out of the car, she frowned at her four flat tires. Jumping up, as she saw the wood with nails in the middle of the road. Someone did this…

"Hello Kimberly."

She whirled on her heel to see the man in rags towering about her. "No."

He smiled at that, blowing her blows as he held the rag to her face. Lowering her gently to the ground, he kissed her forehead gently. "Strip and destroy her car. Take what we need."

His wives nodded, as he chained his newest acquisition to the ancient van. Perfect, just perfect.

* * *

 **John and Max – 2 Years Ago**

I can't move, she thought, laying wrapped around John. I don't think I ever want to leave this spot. Sighing, as he squeezed her tightly to him. "Hmm."

He nuzzled her neck, as she rolled over to look at him. "Hey there."

What is he doing, she thought, enjoying his roaming hands. "That feels good."

"Where did you learn to do that?

She tilted her face to his and kissed him again. I don't want to kiss anyone else. I cannot be falling this fast for him. I love spending time with him. Talking to him. Oh, this is real. "Will you think less of me if I say I've had a lot of practice?"

"Only if you're still practicing with other people."

She smiled at that, content in his arms, as she listened to his heartbeat. "Are you?"

"Max, do you want to go steady?" he teased.

She giggled despite the sweetness of his words. "Will you hold my hand at the ice cream shop too?"

"Yup. One shake, two straws. Stay."

She snuggled in closer to him. "I couldn't leave if I wanted to."

* * *

 **The Woods – Present**

"Where am I?" Kimberly cried, struggling against the restraints on the cavern walls. "Help!"

"Ssh, ssh," Laila whispered, wiping her forehead. "You're fine. You're home now."

"Who are you?"

"We're sisters now."

"No…please, this was a mistake."

"Leave us, Laila," Solomon said, taking in his new wife chained to the bed. "You are perfect, Elena."

"That isn't my name."

"It is your name with me. You are my wife now, Elena. I'm going to make you mine, you are joining our family."

"No, please. Let me go. I don't belong here."

"You are too perfect," he smiled. "You will bare my children and accept your life with us. Tell me you will, Elena."

She shook her head. "No!"

"Oh, yes, Elena. Yes."

* * *

 **Rome – Present**

"They can't be gone."

Kenny glanced at his partner, trying to get a read off her. I can't believe she's pregnant. "They're kids, they were supposed to be watched. The door locked."

"They weren't prisoners, Deputy," the shelter director said. "We were well aware of their problems, we had a watch on the room…you need to see for yourself."

Max gulped, as they peered into the empty room. "What…"

Kenny took in the bent bars ripped from the windows. "They couldn't have done this."

"We lost power, a transformer blew," she continued. "When it came back on, the window was torn out. Someone planned this."

Max gulped. They did. Those kids came here for something…then were picked up. The question is for what. It wasn't me…the Mama comment aside. If not me, who?

"Come on," Kenny said, taking in his pale partner. "We need to call this in, Max."

She nodded, ignoring the shiver running down her spine. Someone is gone.

* * *

 **Kim & Kenny – 6 Months Ago**

"Kenny," Kim sighed, as they broke apart from the kiss in the empty Sherriff's station. "Kenny."

He held onto his shaking boss' daughter. "I should probably go."

"No," she sighed, stroking his cheek. "I'm not a kid."

"No, you're not," he agreed, as they just stood there not touching. "You're still…Kim, we can't."

She kissed him again. "I'm 19, you're 30, it isn't…We can."

Kenny kissed her back, weakening a bit at her closeness. Why can't we? I let my attraction to Max go, she's made it pretty clear with her relationship with Littleton where her heart lies. I can be happy too. "We should go get a drink."

She smiled at that. "I'm not old enough, Deputy Lacos."

"I won't throw the book at you. Come home with me. Not to…to figure this out."

"I'd love to."

* * *

 **Rome – Present**

"What are these tracks?" Max asked. "They seem really wide and…are they different widths? It's like they slapped four un-matching tires onto a car and yanked out a window."

Kenny looked at her. Damn, I want to protect her from this one, it doesn't feel right and not because she's knocked up. "We have their DNA, we can find out who they are."

Max gulped, her senses prickling a bit. "Someone did that to them, Kenny. They were neglected, low functioning, and whoever did that…they had to do this and take them back. We could have helped them, saved them and…now they're back where they started."

"Do you believe the people in the woods theory?"

"I don't want to. Women, girls, they went missing all around there. It could be…Do you?"

"Those kids called you Mama. Don't give me that old and pregnant crap. They chose you."

She shot him a look. "I'm still here, Kenny."

"I don't like it, Max," he trailed off. I don't want anything to happen to her. She's my very best friend, even if she's wrapped up in her new life and I haven't told her about Kim yet. We let each other go. "Be careful."

"You sound like John," she trailed off, crouching down and nodding. "Do you see this?"

"Paint chips?" Kenny asked, looking at the broken chain covered in rusted blue chips. "Whatever they used to pull the window out broke off?"

Those kids, Max thought, those neglected kids. We have their DNA, we can find out who they are…We can save them. We will save them.

* * *

 **John & Max – 2 Years Ago**

"You can stay."

"Oh," Max said, as he kissed her in the doorway the next morning. Kara, he needs to talk to Kara first. "I need to go. You have ballet."

"Kara has ballet. I have take out coffee. Open invite, Honey."

She smiled at that, tempted despite herself. "I think you two need some time together."

For me to talk to her, John thought, about Max. To let her know Max is more than my friend, and that it won't change anything. Ah, it's hard to let her go. "I'm taking her out for a daddy-daughter day, to talk to her about this. How about tonight I get a sitter and we go out? Here, Max, make this public."

She smiled at that. "You want to go out with me in Rome? Public?"

"Are you ready for that?"

She broke into a grin. "I'd love that."

* * *

 **Rome – Present**

"Littleton is your ride?"

Max looked up. "Yeah. I'm going to take a cruiser home because Kara is already in bed."

"Forget it. I'll give you a ride."

She shot him a look. "You don't need to coddle me."

"Tough. You are my best friend."

She felt herself soften at that a bit. "Are you going to be like this for the next seven months?"

"And beyond, Mom."

She groaned at that. "I'm still me, Kenny."

He opened up his truck door for her. "Which is why I'm driving you home. It doesn't feel right, Max, and I know you don't think…I don't want anything to happen to you."

"Nothing is going to happen to me."

"I've heard that before."

She let out a long breath at that. "I like to think I grew up. I'm not going to do anything to hurt my baby, Kenny. Can we talk about anything else? How about you?"

"What about me?"

"I've been a terrible friend, wrapped up in my own stuff…What's going on with you?"

"No one says that about my best friend, even her."

She smiled at him in the darkness of the trucks cab. I have missed this. "We should hang out again, I miss it."

Her with Littleton, my thing with Kim, Kenny thought, we haven't…this is so easy with her. "I'd say a beer and pizza night, but I'm guessing water for you?"

She groaned at that. "John ordered pizza the other night, and the smell made me vomit. I barely made it to the bathroom. Nothing but water, oatmeal and plain toast for me lately."

"I'll take you out for toast then," he said, pulling up in front of Littleton's house. "This officially your home yet?"

It is, she thought, most of my stuff in his basement and the rest coming this weekend. It really has been for a year and half now. "Saturday."

"Max are you okay?"

She broke into a grin at that. "Yeah, I am. It's a lot of changes, Kenny. Ones I'm ready and excited for."

He looked up as the porch light flicked on and Littleton opened the front door. "I'm holding you to a water and toast day, Mom."

She paused at that. "Name the time and place."

* * *

 **The Woods – Present**

I can't, Kim thought, struggling against her chains, as he redressed himself. Where am I? I can't…My dad will find me. Kenny will realize something is wrong when I don't call him back or show up tonight. They'll find me.

"My lovely Elena," he smiled, combing through he tangled hair. "No harm will come to you here, as you are my wife now."

She shook her head, pulling back from his rough fingers. "I'm not your wife."

He stroked her stomach. "Soon you will be growing our child and you will be part of our pack. You belong here, Elena."

"Stop calling me that."

He smiled slowly at her, before backhanding her across the face. "You will learn your place here, Elena!"

* * *

 **Kim & Kenny – 6 Months Ago**

"Wait," Kenny said, as they ducked into the doorway. "Look."

Kim smiled, as she leaned back against him. "Do you really think they would say anything?"

A relationship I still don't get. They have nothing in common…and Max is head over heels in love with him. Ah crap, he's kissing her. "They never hid it."

"That's different. You know my father. He won't… He already tried to fire you before…We can't tell them."

"We're adults," Kenny started, watching as Max kissed him back before laughing at something he said to her. She's happy, why can't I be? "I do know him. We're not doing anything wrong."

Kim frowned, glad he couldn't see her face. "I know that. It's just…you know how he gets. He won't let it go. How long was he angry at them for when they came out with it?'

Kenny smiled as he watched Littleton open the car door for her and broke into a grin with whatever she was saying. He doesn't want to let her go, they haven't taken their eyes off each other. Max is giggling, she doesn't giggle, forget it. We both moved on from whatever there was. She's been clear about how she feels, and I can to. "He was angry because he's the D.A. and she's a deputy, and it was really obvious that they had been together awhile before they outed themselves. You're his daughter. We need to be honest with him."

Kim grimaced, following his gaze to Littleton and Max. They made a controversial relationship work, so can we. "Can we figure some things out first before we…tell him?"

Kenny nodded, taking her hand in his. "That I can handle."

* * *

 **Rome – 2 Years Ago**

"Daddy," Kara sighed, as he handed her an ice cream cone. "Is Max coming too?"

He sat down next to her on the park bench. "Do you like Max?"

She nodded. "Is Max your girlfriend? Is she going to be my mommy? All my friends have mommies, Daddy, can Max be mine?"

Max who I have been dating for…six weeks? "Slow down, Kid. I'm glad you like her because I like her too. I want us all to spend some more time together. I know she really liked coloring with you too."

"We traded pictures. She said she'd hang mine up in her house. Can we go there and see it?"

John nodded. "I'm sure we can. Why did you like her?"

"Daddy," she said seriously. "She made you happy and smile. She colored with me. She's pretty and fun."

John nodded, studying his four-year-old for a long moment. So much like her mom, that same spunk. The mom that she won't ever remember or know… "So, you want her to come over again?"

Kara nodded. "Are you going to kiss her again, Daddy?"

"I think I will. Finish that up, Kid, and I'll drop you Molly's."

* * *

 **Rome – Present**

Kenny looked at his phone and back to the clock ticking past midnight. Where are you, Kim? It could be anything. School fell asleep, she wouldn't just bail out on telling her parents. No accidents, nothing on the scanner…I would know. She didn't want to tell them, she didn't want her father to know. She just left me instead…she wouldn't. She did. I thought this was different, that we…this isn't fair. None of this is fair.

* * *

 **The Woods – Present**

"There, there," Laila said, washing her down with the sponge. "You don't need to be sad or afraid, Elena."

Kim shuddered, pulling back from her the best she could in her shackles. "Stop calling me that."

"It's who you are now. This is your home."

"My name is Kimberly Brock."

"You are Elena. You belong to us," she smiled. "It is better to accept it. The children chose you as their new mother, and soon you will contribute to our pack. No one leaves, Elena. No one will find us."

Kim stared at her, the horror of baring that monster's child chilling her. Dad, Kenny, they'll know, they'll find me. They know I wouldn't just vanish. They'll find me here. I can't give up.

"You will be in the chains until you give birth. The Master will guide you. He will love you, Elena. You will enjoy being his wife and a mother."

I'm going to be a doctor. I was getting serious with Kenny, I have a future with him…I don't belong chained in this cave. "Who are you?"

"I am Laila."

She shook her head. "Before. How long have you been here? How many of these kids are yours?"

"My life didn't start until I was here. The children…once they are born they belong to all of us. You are their mother now, Elena. They need you. Your life is beginning now too. Do not be afraid. You are here because you belong here. Your chains may lengthen as you accept your life here. You must accept it, Elena."

Kim stared at her. I'm not Elena. They'll find me.

"You must tell him who you are. You must accept him as your master.

Never. I won't have his baby. I will get out of here.

"Laila, leave us," Solomon said, staring at his new bride in chains, clad in torn rags and animal skins. "You look lovely, Elena."

No, Kim thought, no. Run.

Solomon smiled at her, running is fingers through her matted hair. "It is time again, my love. Tell me your name."

"Kimberly."

He slapped her again, as Laila shuddered at her defiance. "Tell me your name!"

She moved back as far as her short chains would let her. "No."

He pressed his arm to her throat and pinned her to the cave wall. "Do not make me hurt you, Elena!"

Kim sobbed, as he climbed on top of her and her head hit the cold stone. I can't…I don't belong here. I can't move…I need to run. I need to… "Elena! My name is Elena!"

* * *

 **TBC**


	3. Chapter 3

**This is set to be a 6-Chapter Story with some time jumps coming.**

* * *

 **Present – Rome**

"You okay?" Max asked, looking at her exhausted looking partner in the squad car. "Kenny?"

He shot her a look at that. She doesn't get it…she used to. Not anymore because she's in love. "Forget it, Max."

"Then stop being an ass to me this morning."

"I had to pull over so you could vomit. Should you even be working?"

"Sorry if my morning sickness offends you so much."

"I'm sure Littleton rubs your back and tells you how wonderful you are while you vomit."

She glared at him with that. "Is there something you want to say to me?"

That I thought I found what you did. That the joy that you two hide at work and then is so obvious in their personal life together. Instead Kim blows me off the night we were going to talk to her parents and isn't calling me back. I wasn't good enough for her either. "Forget it."

"Oh, no. I'm not your punching bag. Talk to me."

And you were too good for me. I thought we would…instead Littleton. Having his baby, she's going to be his wife. They'll have a houseful of kids, she'll be a stepmom to Kara. Now you're looking at me in that annoyed way where you can see right through me. "You don't get it."

"Get what?"

"Max, go be happy. Get married. Have this baby. Adopt Kara. Go live out the American dream."

"Is that what you're mad at me about? That I'm happy? That I'm not commiserating all my bad dates with you? Kenny, I miss hanging out like we used too."

I don't want to hang out, I want to feel like you do. I thought I found it, and instead I'm…I'm jealous of what you found. I thought it would be us. "Please, you're happy playing house."

She glared at him with that, it hitting home a bit. Cooking dinner, going to ballet and gymnastics with Kara, coming together as a family, well before this pregnancy. She wants to call me Mommy and…my favorite nights are curling up on the couch with John and Kara watching movies, playing board games, just the three of us. "And that offends you?"

"Damn it, Max! You're not this dense."

"Then explain it to me!"

"I want what you have, damn it! I thought," he started, his heart breaking over Kim again. "Do you know how hard watching you be happy is when I'm miserable?"

* * *

 **In the Woods**

Kim leaned back against the cave wall, her eyes adjusting the darkness. Wrapping the bear skin around herself, she shivered as she pushed her tangled hair back. He's gone…pulling against the chains, she groaned as she looked at them mounted into the rock. How many…No. He wouldn't stop last night. He won't stop until I'm pregnant…until I have his child. Until I'm his Elena. Drinking the warm water slowly, she stared at the stew in front of her. I don't want to know what it is…I'm so hungry.

I'm not Elena. I'm Kim. I'm not Elena.

* * *

 **Rome – Present**

Max sat back and stared at him with that. "Really?"

"Yes, really. You were never happy. You torpedoed relationships. Why him?"

No, she thought, no. I can't have this conversation with him. I let it go, whatever there was between us that was never going to happen. Tell him. "It just happened. We obviously enjoyed sniping at each other, and…underneath that we found something great."

Kim, he thought, I thought we…she bailed. She didn't want to tell her parents. They never hid it…neither of them wanted to. I thought we were in this together. She's been ignoring me for days. "Of course you did."

"What's really going on?"

He looked at her with her that. She knows me. "Forget it."

"No. Apparently being around me makes you miserable."

"You are my best friend."

"Could have fooled me."

He let out a long breath and looked over at her. "I thought I…she blew me off. Didn't call, just dropped off the planet. I thought…I thought it was real."

Max looked at him with that for a long moment. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry. It's better I know now."

"You deserve better than that."

They were both too good for me, that's why it wouldn't ever work. Kim realized it. Max is going to marry Littleton eventually. "Forget it."

Don't push him, she thought, just let him talk. "You can tell me anything. You know that."

Not this, never this. Kim didn't want anyone to know, so no one will. "I know."

* * *

 **John & Max – 2 Years Ago**

"Do you care?"

The looks, the whispered comments, Max thought, after a very casual dinner and drinks. Now, his arm around me, walking down the street, and…why do I fit so well next to him? I love the way he feels, smells, and not in a suit. "Nope."

He squeezed her, as she smiled up at him. "Good."

"I'm always good when I'm with you."

"You know you're irresistible."

"That's better than irritating and antagonistic."

"That too."

She smiled at him, the guy who can press all my buttons and then makes me laugh. "John?"

"You look serious all of the sudden."

She broke into a grin at that. "It's still early."

"You have something in mind?" he teased, combing through her hair. "I know what I want to do."

"That was enjoyable."

"You should stay over tonight. You can stay every night if you want."

I did like waking up with him, even if I more or less fled in the morning so Kara wouldn't see me. Is this too fast? Oh, I like his arms around me. Don't overthink it. "We may have to work up to every night…but tonight? Yes."

"You as good at mini-golf as you are at pool?"

"I guess we'll have to play for you to find out. Do you care to make a wager?"

He tried not to smile, as he nodded. "Loser picks up the tab?"

"Well, not what I had in mind," she laughed. "But you're on."

* * *

 **In The Woods:**

"Hello," Kim said nervously, seeing the kids looking at her from the cave entrance. They won't hurt me. I'm their mom now…that's why I'm here. They needed another mom. I'm not their mom. I'm not his Elena.

"Mama," a boy said nodding, gesturing the other two to follow him. "You Mama now."

Agree, they're just kids. "Yes. Mama."

He sat in her lap, as the other two sat on either side of her. "Mama have baby."

Kim gulped. Not here. Never here. I'm not…He needs to trust me. I need to run. "Am I?"

He nodded, feeling her stomach beneath the skins and rags. "Yes. You make baby with Master. Soon."

No…I won't. It's only been a few days. I'm not pregnant. I can't be.

"Elena."

She looked up, seeing him watching her with the children. What is happening to me? I feel so weird. Looking at the water, she felt herself get woozy. "Master?"

"You are fine my lovely Elena," he said stroking her cheek. "It is time for your next step in joining our pack."

* * *

 **Rome – Present**

"What?" Max asked. "She's in college. She could just be…sleeping off a wild night?"

"She's pre-med," Jill stated. "She doesn't have wild nights. I think she may have a new boyfriend. And you shouldn't be on patrol."

Of course she has wild nights, Max thought, she's 19. Of course she won't talk about, she knows Jimmy won't leave it alone…she's been way too serious. "I'm sure she'll call. It's the size of a peanut. I'm fine."

"You need to take care of yourself and your baby. I'm sure John feels the same way."

John who teased me about my pregnancy glow and how it would out me before any belly did…before stripping down on the couch and really celebrating it. "You'd have to ask him that."

"Here," Kenny said, rejoining them and handing her a bottle of water. "No coffee."

"He knows," Max said, wishing it was coffee. "I'm finishing up this rotation, and then I'll do desk duty. I don't need seven months of baby-sitting. I can take care of myself."

"We should go," Kenny said. I need to finish this day, get away from Max and get drunk. Neither her or Kim want me. "Come on."

* * *

 **Kenny & Kim – 5 Months Ago**

"Oh, I don't want to go," Kim sighed, as they laid in his bed together. "My finals are done, my parents…they want me home during the break."

"Good, then you won't have to drive back and forth. You'll be nice and close."

Kim smiled at that, adjusting the sheet around herself. "How will I explain this?"

"We can tell them."

"Kenny," she sighed. "I can't…you know how he is."

"You're almost 20. You can date who you want."

"I want to date you…I've wanted that for a long time. He's going to ruin it, just like before."

Kenny looked at her for a long moment. We have to tell them, I love her and I want everyone to know that. What is she so afraid of? "We won't let him."

She smiled at that, as she dropped the sheet. "One more time before I go?"

* * *

 **Rome – 2 Years Ago**

"Max!"

Max winced, knowing what was coming, as she followed Kenny to the coffee room. "Just say it."

"You and Littleton? What is that? God, he was all over you."

"He was not," she stated. His arm around me, holding my hand, ah, a few kisses by the car. "Maybe a little bit."

"Are you kidding me? How long have you been sleeping with him for?"

Max held his gaze, pushing back her temper. "It's new. Very new. We're getting to know each other and we don't want to keep it a secret. I really like him."

"Littleton. You're screwing Littleton."

"I am not screwing him. It isn't…Kenny, I'm falling for him. It's been a few weeks and…I really like spending time with him."

"A few weeks?"

Dates, even when we're not, we talk every night, lunches in his office under the guise of working…he makes me laugh. "We decided to go public. Can you not make a big deal out of it?"

"You're dating Littleton!"

"I know."

Splitting a pizza, a pitcher of beer, them looking really cozy in that booth together, Kenny thought, he kept touching her. Max smiling, laughing with him, they didn't take their eyes off each other…then they flirted through mini-golf together. Did he not know Max is ridiculously good at stuff like mini-golf? "How serious is it?"

"We've been seeing each other a few weeks. We're getting to know each other. We're not running off and eloping. Can you stop looking at me like that? He's a good guy, Kenny."

"What the hell, Max?"

"I'm not going round and round with you. I'm dating John. We like each other. Can you drop it?"

* * *

 **Rome – Present**

Don't, John thought, watching as Max and Kara kicked a soccer ball around the backyard. She'll balk if I coddle her, and she isn't throwing up right now. She's fine. Smiling and laughing, ah Kara is hugging her.

"Daddy!" she called. "Come play with us."

Max hugged her back, shooting him a grin. "Come on, John, give it a go."

"You know I can take you?" he countered. "This isn't mini-golf, Max."

Kara giggled and kicked the ball toward her dad. "Max said talk is cheap, Daddy."

"Was that before or after ice cream and cookies?" he asked, kicking the ball back toward Max. "You didn't hide the evidence, Kid."

Max stopped the ball with her foot before kicking it down the yard for Kara to chase. "Your turn."

"Max!" she cried, chasing after it. "You and Daddy just want to kiss and not have me watch!"

"Are we that predictable?" John asked, pulling her close and kissing her. "Sorry, I'm late."

She shook her head. "I got to eat ice cream before dinner and play soccer? It's a good day."

"Kara is a bad influence."

She grinned at that. "Come on. You have the best kid over there."

He ran his fingers through her hair, letting them trail down her cheek. She wants to call Max Mommy. God, she is a great mom to her, would she? Can I even do that? Deanna's daughter…she'll never remember Deanna. She wants a mom, just like everyone else, and Max…pregnant with her sibling, the person I want to marry… "You know she thinks of you as her mom."

Max looked at him with that. "I love her, John. It's impossible not to…she's just the best kid."

"Who is going to be a big sister soon."

Max smiled at that. "She is."

"A lot of changes, huh?"

"I practically lived with you already," Max trailed off. "This just made it official."

"And I'm very glad you're here."

"John," she laughed, as he nuzzled her neck before letting her go. "It doesn't change anything. Oh, we're setting bad example."

"For Kara? I hate to break it to you, but I think she's on to us," John teased, hoisting his running six-year-old in the air. "Isn't that right, Kid?"

"Daddy!" she cried. "Max, help!"

Max laughed, as John held her by her ankles and she walked on her hands. "I think you have this one."

"Daddy!" Kara giggled, as she did a somersault as he let go. "You're being silly. I saw you kissing Mommy too."

* * *

 **In the Woods**

I can't move, Kim thought, the drugs keeping her sluggish and her limbs immobile. Dimly remembering the bites of raw meat and sips of water, as the days and nights blended together. Changing me…making me one of them. Gazing at Tati as she tattooed her numb arm, she couldn't look away as the tribal tattoos encircled her chest, arms, and hands.

"Very lovely, Elena," she smiled, as she finished up the details on her hands. "This is enough for the day."

No, she thought, no…I'm not one of them. I'll never be one of them.

* * *

 **Rome – Present**

"You are my mommy, Max," Kara stated, hugging her again before taking both of their hands. "I didn't come from your tummy, but you take care of me. You do everything a mommy does. You're my mommy. Please be my mommy, Max."

"Kara," John interjected, looking at his shell shocked girlfriend. "We need to discuss this."

"Max, you don't want to be my mommy?"

"Kara, I," she started. What is wrong with me? I love her too. I don't know what to say…she's John's daughter, with Deanna, and…he tells her stories about her, he wants her to understand that Deanna is a part of her and will always love her. And I love that about him.

"You're my mommy," Kara repeated, tugging on both of her hands. "We do stuff together. You make me and Daddy happy. I want you and Daddy to get married so we can be a real family. Please, Max, please? You can wear a pretty dress and kiss Daddy again."

I'm going to cry and it's not because of my hormones. She crouched down and hugged Kara for a long moment. Ah, I love this kid, and not just because she is John's. "You want me to wear a pretty dress?"

She nodded, hugging her back. "And Daddy will tell you how much he loves you, and then you'll kiss and you'll really be my mommy. Please?"

"Kara," John said, seeing her death grip on Max. Ah, she is Kara's mom in so many ways. "What do you say, Honey? Mommy sounds pretty good to me."

Max looked up at him before back down to Kara in her arms. Mommy, to this sweet girl and the baby in my belly. My family. "I'm your mommy, Kara."

* * *

 **Kenny & Kim – 4 Months Ago**

"I love you."

Kim smiled at that, as they sat curled up on his sofa on the rainy Sunday. "I love you too."

"What do you say we get out of here? Go get something to eat, see a movie?" Kenny said.

"We can do those things here, and I need to study."

He clamped down on his frustration. "We can't keep hiding."

She groaned at that. "Yeah? Kenny, I can't keep having this conversation. It's hard enough balancing school and us, and I can't deal with my parents on top of that."

Is she ashamed? Is this what this really is? No, Jimmy is going to blow up at us. It took him weeks to get over Max and Littleton, and to their credit they've kept it out of work…I'm just waiting for her to show up with a ring on her finger. "We can get it over with."

She shook her head. "Over with? Why can't what we have right now be enough?"

Kenny looked at for a long moment. What is this really? For her? For me? "It can be."

* * *

 **Rome – Present**

"You still looked shocked."

"I need a drink," Max trailed off, sipping her water. "A real one. I'd settle for coffee."

"Come on. You know how she feels."

Max broke into a grin at that. "I do. I just didn't expect her to come out with it like that. Are you okay with it?"

"That our daughter wants to call you Mommy?" John asked. "She is ours, Honey."

She looked at him with that one. "John."

"The same way the one you are cooking in there is going to be. She never knew Deanna, I raised her for four years alone and…it's you and me, Max. I want you to be Kara's mom as much as she does. I want you…Max, it's you and me for the long haul."

"What if I screw her up? What if I screw this baby up? What if I'm a terrible mother?"

He smiled at that, tugging her in close to him and brushing his lips over hers. "Get out of your head. You are wonderful with Kara…and not just because you eat junk with her. This is our family, Max, and I'm more than looking forward to building it with you."

"Oh, you are so too good for me."

"Not even close," he teased. "Do you know how lucky I am? Max, I never thought I'd find a second love of my life…until we started sniping at each other. You woke me up again. I want us to spend the rest our lives together. I love you."

She gulped back her tears at his sweet words. "I love you too."

He wiped her tears away with his thumbs and pressed his lips to her forehead. "Max."

"It's hormones," she said, not being able to stop her tears. "Really."

"You're adorable. Can I make you cry so more?"

She buried her face in his neck, as he gave her a long squeeze. "I cried at a vacuum commercial earlier."

"After you threw up?"

She nodded, fighting to get control of herself and failing miserably. "What is wrong with me?"

"Nothing. You're perfect. I love you," he said again, tilting her tear streaked face to his. "I love our life together. I love waking up with you, the way you smile at me and then burn eggs. You make me think, you challenge me…we have fun together. You're a wonderful mother…you make me melt inside, Honey. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, raising Kara, this new baby, and whatever other kids we might have. Our future is together. Max…"

She gulped, as he wiped her years away again, smiling as he did. "John?"

"This isn't because you're pregnant," he smiled. "I've been wanting to ask you this for a long time. Maxine Stewart, will you marry me?"

She shivered, as he slid the diamond on her finger. Marry him. "John?"

"Oh, you hormonal and emotional mess," he teased, intertwining his hand with hers. "This looks good on you. What do you say?"

She took a steadying breath and nodded. "Yes, of course, yes."

* * *

 **Rome – 2 Weeks Later**

She's getting married, Kenny thought, she hasn't stop smiling in two weeks over it. What the hell, Max? Married, pregnant, living with him, being his daughter's stepmom, and she's glowing. Littleton, of course it's Littleton. She's going to be Max Littleton.

He keeps staring at me, Max thought, looking down at herself. Am I getting fat? All the vomiting cleared out five pounds…making room for baby in there? My little peanut. No…it's the ring. The engagement and that he's been an ass to me. Whoever did this did a number on him. I must be glutton for punishment. "Hey, do you want to go grab lunch?"

He looked at her ring again before back at her. "Since when?"

"Stop," she groaned. "Since when did we stop being friends?"

Since you're pregnant, engaged, and Kim is ignoring me. I can't be around her, even if she doesn't really talk about the two biggest things in her life right now. I bet she does with her new friends…all those parents she hangs out with now. Playdates with Kara Littleton. She's leaving me too…she'll be ensconced in mommy-hood with that kid in her. "Max, forget it."

She gritted her teeth, silently cursing him. "How long are you going to be an ass to me for?"

He looked at her for a long moment. Glowing, he thought again, her hair in a French braid down her back, she doesn't look remotely pregnant, and that tasteful, of course it's tasteful from Littleton, diamond ring on her finger. "What do we have to talk about?"

"We talk about everything."

"Max, Kenny," Jimmy called from his office door where he disappeared with Jill earlier. "My office, now."

* * *

 **In The Woods**

No, Kim thought groggily, as she lay on the skins in her prison. I can't move, I hurt…Cracking her eyes open, she stared at her arm. It's a nightmare…this isn't real…they…like my sisters. Not my sisters. They made me their sister…his wife. Drool dripping down her chin, she let her gaze travel down her body, now tattooed with her pack's marks. My pack.

* * *

 **Rome – Present**

"What?" Max said. "For two weeks?"

"She said she had finals, but," Jimmy said. "Her roommates haven't seen her. She didn't take her finals."

Max felt her blood run cold at that. Two weeks ago, those kids, the urban legend…no way. We aren't thinking…she isn't the kind of 19 year old to take off.

"She had a boyfriend," Jill said. "She wouldn't talk about it, but she was seeing someone."

"Her room was searched, nothing is missing," Jimmy continued. "Her credit cards weren't used. Her phone hasn't been turned on. She's gone."

Kenny sat back, his heart dropping to his knees as he looked at his shell shocked boss and wife. she drove those roads so no one would see her come to my place…she would have been on them that night.

"Two weeks ago?" Max asked. "The same day the wall was ripped out and those kids vanished again?"

"She wasn't here. She never drove that road. She was at school."

No, Kenny thought, no. She didn't…two weeks. She… "She did. She drove them a lot."

Max looked at him with that. Oh, God…he's been pissed off for two weeks. Kim? She didn't show up and…Oh God.

"Kenny?" Jimmy pressed. "Why?"

"We were seeing each other. It was a way into town where no one would see. She was supposed to come over that night…I thought she blew me off because she didn't want to tell you."

* * *

 **TBC**


	4. Chapter 4

**May go up to eight chapters...we will see.**

* * *

 **Rome – Present**

"You were what!"

"That's why she didn't want to tell you," Kenny said, seeing Max's shocked expression. "She knew you would do this. We're adults."

"It's been two weeks and you didn't think something was wrong?"

"I thought she stood me up and was avoiding me."

Oh, Kenny, Max thought, her heart breaking for him. That road…oh, god, Kim. "We'll get out there now…there has to be…We'll find her."

Two weeks, Kenny thought, two weeks ago she…Kim. I gave up on her and…No. I'll get her back.

"You aren't going anywhere," Jimmy said staring down Kenny. He knew, he could have…she drove that road because of him. "If something happened to her."

Max stepped between them, her heart racing. "We'll find her. She's smart, strong…she can fight for herself if."

"None of them have been found, Max!"

She winced at that. "Then it's time we find all of them."

* * *

 **Kenny & Kim – 3 Months Ago**

"Don't," she whispered, pulling him behind the car. "Do they know? Did they follow us?"

Kenny looked at her with that, as he parents passed them by on the street as they hid. "I am not hiding from your parents, Kim."

"They'll ruin this, Kenny."

"Ruin what? Us sneaking around?"

"My dad will put you on nights, I'll never see you. He'll have you transferred."

Kenny stared at her, feeling his heart breaking a bit. "We're adults. We can make it work. Kim, I love you…I want people to know."

"I want that too…but you know how they are."

He kissed her behind the car. Max made this work. She and Littleton ignored everything and went about their life…Why can't we? Why are we different? "We don't have anything to be afraid of. Do you trust me?"

"With my life."

* * *

 **Rome – Present**

Do not get sick, Max thought, or kidnapped in these woods. John is going to be so mad at me for this…Focus. If something happened to Kim here…I can't believe they had a secret relationship for six months. We really stopped talking about our love lives when I started dating John. It did change things with us, would it have if it was anyone else? Looking at the ring on her finger, she sighed, no. It's because it's John…someone else I work with, fight with, that I took the chance with him and it worked. I let myself love him.

"Kenny?" she asked, seeing how tense he was. "Look."

If I, he thought, if I said anything…I thought she stood me up. That she didn't…if something happened to her…No. "Something was burned here."

"The tracks, they're like the others," she said, looking at the mismatched tire marks, as they pushed back the branches. "A road?'

Kenny shook his head. "An overgrown logging road? You are not going any further. I'm not losing you too."

She looked at him. "You're not going alone."

"And I'm not pissing off the D.A. by dragging his pregnant fiancé into the woods."

"I'm still me."

"That's what worries me. I know you."

"You and Kim?" she asked after a long moment. "How come you didn't tell me?"

"She didn't want anyone to know," he started, looking at her. "Would it have mattered?"

"Of course, it would have mattered. You're my best friend. I want you to be happy."

"She didn't want anyone to know, Max. She wanted to hide it from her parents."

"You know how overprotective Jimmy is of her. She would have…you know she would have told them."

"She was coming," he started, not looking at her. "I thought…Max, if I…I was so mad at her and if she…"

"You'll be able to tell her. We'll find her, Kenny."

* * *

 **Kenny & Kim: 2 Months Ago**

"You should stay with me once you finish your semester."

Kim rolled over and looked at him, very glad her roommates were away and that they weren't in Rome. "At your apartment? In Rome? Where my parents live?"

He nodded. "For the summer."

"Kenny," she trailed off. "I have an internship in Madison…I'm going up there."

"What about us?"

She smiled, as she straddled him. "There will always be us."

* * *

 **Rome – Present**

"Don't look at me like that," Max stated, late that night, as she sat cross-legged on their bed. "I'm fine."

"You really think Kim was kidnapped?" John asked, studying her. "By something in the woods?"

Max let out a long breath. "We found her car, what was left of it, all burnt up. There is an old logging road that…I don't know. She was taking those roads to see Kenny and…I really want her to be okay and holed up somewhere with some guy having a good time."

"Urban legends."

"They came from somewhere."

He sat across from her on their bed and looked at her for a long moment wearing nothing but his old law school shirt, her hair spilling down her back, looking like she was gearing up for a fight. "Okay. I don't want my pregnant fiancé stomping around the woods if there is a lunatic abducting woman in there."

"Your pregnant fiancé is just fine after doing that today."

"My pregnant fiancé looks exhausted and smells like dirt and sweat."

"You know how to flatter me," she deadpanned, as he took her hands in his. "Hi."

"I love you," John stated, not taking his eyes off her. "Max, I don't want anything to happen to you. You're not invincible."

She let out a long breath at that, letting herself relax as he wrapped his arms around her and she leaned back against his chest. "I know that. It's just…you didn't see them, John. Jimmy, Jill, Kenny…I thought Jimmy was going to shoot him when he found out they were…then that she vanished the night she was supposed to see Kenny and he…he thought she blew him off and spent the last two weeks being angry and hurt over it to find out that…she's missing and that…This is bad."

"You didn't know?"

"Know what?"

"About Kenny and Kim?"

"What?" she asked, twisting in his arms to look at him. "No. He never said a word to me about it."

"I thought you two talked about everything."

"We did…it's been," she trailed off, as his hands rested on her still flat stomach. "When we, it got…we stopped talking about our love lives when we got together."

"Why?"

"Because it was us, and it got serious between us. I don't think he expected that…I mean look at us."

"What about us?"

She laid her hand over his, looking at their laced fingers resting on where their baby was growing. "Living together, engaged, having a baby and Kara calls me Mommy. And before all that? You made it really easy for me to fall in love with you."

"Good."

"I mean it," she trailed off. "I've never laughed as much with anyone than I do with you. You don't let me get away with my crap."

He kissed the top of her head. "I love your crap. We should go out, Honey, what happened to our weekly date lately?"

"I think it evolved to watching movies on your couch and then getting naked."

"You want to get naked now?"

She giggled at that, as she shifted so she could straddle him. Whipping his t-shirt over her head, she kissed him.

* * *

 **In the Woods**

Kim traced the tattoos encircling her in her prison. My pack she thought…just like them.

"Elena."

She looked, feeling his eyes studying her. "Master."

"Stand for me."

She rose slowly, as he took in her new body. Unmoving, as he traced the pack lines, before running his finger across her lips. "Master?"

"Tati did a lovely job," he continued, touching her partially dreadlocked hair, before tracing the markings on her face. "Have you seen yourself, Elena?"

"Tati said not until I am completed and a member of the pack."

He nodded, running his finger along marks around her eyes. "Tell me your name. Tell me who you are."

"I am Elena. I am yours."

"Are you hungry?"

She nodded, looking at the pile of raw meat the children had brought her. "Yes."

He ran his finger over he still straight and flat teeth. "Drink this. When you awake, you will be able to eat all you please."

Fangs, she thought numbly, the last vestiges of Kim screaming in her brain. Like an animal…so I can eat. Survive. Looking at her tattoos and his hands on her. I'm never leaving here. I'm his Elena…Sipping the offered water, she happily slipped into oblivion.

* * *

 **Kenny & Kim: 3 Months Ago**

She squirmed, as they sat across from each other at the hole in the wall café. "I can't keep having this same conversation. I've told you why."

Your parents, he thought, you're ashamed of this. Us. Me. "They're going to find out eventually. What do you think is going to happen?"

"Why is this so important?"

"Kim, I love you," he said. "What we have…I don't want to keep sneaking around with it."

"You want Max to know."

"What?"

"I see how you still look at her. Is that what this is? Do you want to make her jealous?"

"She is practically living with Littleton."

"That isn't what I asked. Are you using me to make her jealous?"

Max and Littleton, he thought, how he's always touching her…how he looks at her. She never hid it, past those first few weeks together. I did think…Max and me…I did think it would be us. She did too, she had to think that…until she hooked up with him and never looked back. "Of course not. There hasn't ever been anything between Max and me."

"I saw how you looked at them that night…when John kissed her by the car."

How she melted against him, content, smiling, oblivious to anything but him. "This isn't about Max. It's about you and me…and how I want us to be together. I can deal with your parents. They love you, Kim. They'll be okay with us."

"I love you too," she started, pushing her hair back. "Kenny, I…after my semester is up. I can't deal with them and school."

"Deal."

* * *

 **Rome – Present**

"Jocelyn Morgan," Max said. "She vanished 10 years ago."

Kenny looked up, his heart shattered, and very glad Max talked Jimmy down from suspending him. "Who?"

"Those kids…their DNA matches her."

He looked at the picture of the pretty blonde before back at his partner. "Where?"

"A road very similar," she started, catching herself. "About 50 miles north. She was 16, Kenny and…no sign of her. The same urban legend and…they're her kids."

"Where does that get us?"

"There is more. Their DNA also matches a man named Solomon Whittaker. He was a dentist," she started. "A doomsday prophet, survivalist, and…he vanished 30 years ago. His house abandoned, his whole family? It was a huge story 30 years ago."

"You think," he started, looking at her. "That he…all these years?"

Max gulped, thinking the vast expanse of woods. "We don't have anything else."

"We need to get back out there."

Hundreds of miles, she thought, it's been searched, but there is still so much. "Kenny, wait."

"I am not leaving her out there."

"Jimmy called Morrell. They're taking it over. It crosses state lines."

How is she so calm? Is she relieved she doesn't have to stomp around the woods pregnant? "I'm not backing off this."

She held his gaze. "It isn't your fault."

"She was coming to see me, Max. If we didn't hide it…she wouldn't have been there."

"We don't know that. She's going to need you when we find her."

Max, he thought, really looking at her. "Yeah, it was. She was coming to see me and."

"Stop. It isn't. She's coming home to you," she said softly. "Let's get a beer tonight. Or you get a beer…I'll get something less good."

"Littleton okay with that?"

"He's not my keeper."

Kenny smiled despite it all. She is my best friend. My pregnant and engaged best friend. "Yeah?"

I'd love to go home, curl up on the couch with him and Kara…who is really calling me Mommy…and I like being Mommy. Ah, what have they done to me? I'm such a sap. A pregnant and engaged sap. "Yeah."

"It's a date."

* * *

 **In the Woods**

Kim stared at herself in the cave of mirrors, the drugs out of her system completely. No…what…no. I can't ever leave here…I can't live like this. They're watching me…they'll drug and hurt me if I scream and cry. Staring, she felt her dreadlocks, filled with animal fur along with her hair…longer pieces braided in, how…why? The tribal marks of her pack wrapping around her arms, across her shoulders, chest and neck, before decorating her cheeks and around her eyes. Permanent…tattooed. Like them. Reluctantly she bared her teeth, gulping back her tears as she stared at the razor-sharp points…he ripped those two out. Fangs, she thought, letting them rest outside her lips. I'm a monster. I'm his Elena…Elena. Elena.

* * *

 **Rome – Present**

"Water, huh? Still puking?"

Max nodded, taking a slow sip. "Not as much…It was pretty bad for a while."

"You're glowing."

"I do not glow."

"Yeah you do, Mom."

Mom, she thought, I never thought I'd be a mom. Kara and the one I'm cooking in here. Stop thinking about this. He needs his friend, not me being a sappy mess. "It's the size of a peanut…how is it doing this to me? Throwing up, I burst into tears at stupid stuff and…stuff."

Glowing, he thought again. "When is the wedding?"

"Undecided," she trailed off, looking at her ring. "We're taking things one day at a time. I just moved in, this baby, getting married…it's a lot for the two of us and Kara."

"How often did you really stay at your place?"

She squirmed at that. "When I worked graveyard? What about the two of you? How…When?"

"Max."

"We've always been able to tell each other everything."

"You're different," he said bluntly. "Not in a bad a way. You talk to him."

"That's different. You get me in a whole different way than John does."

"You're going to be Maxine Littleton…with baby Littleton."

Am I changing my name? "Yup. You can tell me."

Just like that, he thought, not flinching about taking his last name? She actually tried not to smile at it. She's so stinking happy. "It just happened. She was looking for Jimmy at the station and…Max, it… we decided to try it again. She didn't want to tell her parents, I didn't want to hide it. It was perfect when we were alone together, except for that. I looked at you and Littleton…you never hid it."

She nodded. "We had a few weeks, when we first started, out of the way, out of town…figuring it out. Seeing if it was something."

"Then you went public."

"We just wanted," she trailed off. Not make a big deal of it. Dating. Being together. "We wanted to be together. She would have come around. She's young, you know how her parents can be, just because it's different doesn't mean it won't work."

"Like you two. God, you're going to be a mom."

What will our baby look like, half white and half black…what will their life be like? We'll love them enough that it won't matter. "Six months from now."

Kenny watched her as she touched her stomach briefly. "She didn't want me, Max. Not long term…it was just…"

"She's 19. In school. She doesn't know what she wants."

"What if…if she's gone?"

"We're going to find her. You can tell her everything. Jimmy will never give up. Neither will you."

"This Ian…what does he want?"

Kids, Max thought, those were his and Jocelyn Morgan's kids. Taking women. "He's abducting women and having kids…it's a commune, cult, we don't know. You know she'll fight him. She won't give in. She's coming home to you."

Who is this, he thought, she still knows everything in my head. Even drinking water, her hand on her stomach, she is glowing, that ring, I miss her. I really miss her. Why didn't we…No, she's marrying Littleton and Kim and me…Whatever she wants. Why wasn't it us? Why did she so willingly jump into his arms? No, stop thinking about her like that. "The FBI is coming to search the woods…Max, I…"

She reached across the table to take his hand. "Do you want to stay with us tonight? You shouldn't be alone."

"With you and Littleton?"

"And Kara."

He looked at her hand in his. Just you, he thought, I want to keep talking to you. Not him. He's made you all…I need you. "Max, I'll be fine."

"Open invite."

"You've lived together for a week."

"Officially. We had a good year and half of me making myself at home before we…made it a thing."

Littleton makes her happy, it should have been us. No, it's me and Kim. Max, Littleton, Kara and that baby. "Do you want to take a walk?"

* * *

 **Rome – 2 Years Ago**

"You're shaking."

Max looked up, not caring that people were staring. Get it together. "It's just…people…why?"

"Look at me," John said. "There are a lot of people…Max, it's not the last time this is going to happen."

"How often does this happen to you?"

"Every day. If you stay with me, it'll happen to you to."

"We're not an if," she said softly, looking at the hate speech carved in her car before back at him. "Tell me."

"You want to know about all the racism I've dealt with? Max, that would take weeks. I'll give you this one," he said, combing through her hair. "Why do you think Kara was singled out when a mom couldn't find her phone at ballet? Why was my daughter the first one?"

Max froze at that. "No."

"Yes. And she's four, Honey. She has a lifetime of this ahead of her. You're white. You have options, no one follows you in stores, cops didn't hassle you growing up, people didn't cross the street or assume you're in school because of a special favor. Cops didn't pull guns on your school bus. You and me? This is going to happen, Honey."

She looked up at him. Six months in, him and me…I've never seen that in his eyes before, the way he's looking at me. "I can handle it. I can handle anything with you."

He rested his forehead on hers. Six months. "Max, I love you."

She smiled at that, pressing her lips to his "I love you too, John."

* * *

 **Rome – Present**

"Lie down," Max said, all but shoving her drunk friend on his couch. "Get some rest."

"Stay with me, Max," he slurred, reaching for her. "I need you."

She covered him with a blanket. "Sleep it off."

"Don't leave me again."

"Oh, you're so drunk."

"You're so damn hot."

"Right," she sighed, stepping back.

"It should have been us. It still should be us."

She froze for a moment at that. "You're drunk."

"And you're gorgeous," he murmured. "I love you, Max, it's always been you."

* * *

 **Rome – 2 Years Ago**

John froze as he watched Max and Kara from the doorway. My girlfriend at eight months, he thought, curled up with my daughter. Kara reading to her, trying to read to her, Max just smiling, nudging her along with it. Ah, Kara does like her…she wants Max to take her to ballet, gymnastics, tuck her in at night…Kara wants a mom.

"Daddy," Kara called, as Max looked up and smiled at him. "Come read with us. Max is helping me with the big words."

He tossed his suit jacket on the chair and loosened his tie. "Is she?"

"Max is smart."

"Ah, you don't need much help," Max trailed off, seeing something in John's eyes when he looked at her. "Full disclosure? We did go to the playground first."

"Reading and exercise?" he said, watching how Kara snuggled in closer to her and Max's ease with her. I'm going to marry her. This prickly deputy is going to my wife eventually. "What do my two favorite people say about going out to dinner?"

* * *

 **Rome - Present**

"You spoil me," Max sighed, as he handed her a cup of coffee. "It's not forbidden?"

"Savor it," he said. "Can you keep it down?"

My love, she thought, I can't tell him…I need to tell him. He was drunk. He didn't know what he was saying. I know who I love and what I want. Who I want to marry and have a family with. Don't tell him. It was nothing…just Kenny being a drunk idiot. "I think I'm past morning sickness…it's time to get fat."

"Hey," he said, turning serious. "Don't get mad at me. I want you off the streets. Off this case. And yes, it's because you're pregnant."

"Kim is missing, John."

"And the FBI is on it."

"John, I can't walk away from this."

"You're pregnant," he said bluntly. "With our kid. It's procedure. You're not invincible, Honey. We're having a baby, getting married, we're spending the rest of our lives together. You're three months pregnant, you need to take care of yourself."

Max held his gaze at that. "I know I'm not invincible."

"Do you?"

"Do you really think I'm going to do something to hurt myself and our baby?"

"You are reckless when it comes to your safety, Honey. Push papers for a few months."

"What happens post baby? Do want me behind a desk because I'm a mom?"

"You're already a mom," he said. "You're the only mom that Kara is going to know."

"Damn it, John."

"And we're making her a big sister. Max, I'd have a dozen babies with you. I can't wait to marry you. I'd do it tomorrow. You're not sitting behind a desk forever. These six months, maternity leave, part time…it's a lot of changes."

Kenny, Kim, Jimmy, Jill, she thought, I'm bailing and… "Okay."

"Daddy?" Kara asked, staring at them. "I'm going to be a big sister?"

He looked at her and back to Max. "Ah, come here, Kid.

Kara ran to Max instead and hugged her tightly. "But…If Mommy…Mommy, if you have your own baby, you won't want me anymore. You won't be my mommy."

Max felt her heart drop at that as she looked at her heartbroken daughter. Crouching down, she hugged Kara tight again. "I'll always be your mom, Sweetie, no matter how many babies I have. What's so special with you and me is that you chose me to your mom…even if you didn't come from my tummy. You and me? We chose to be each other's family. I love you so much, Kara and I never want to leave you. This baby is so lucky to get you as a big sister. I'm lucky that you want to be my daughter."

"And you and Daddy are getting married?"

Max nodded, as Kara clung to her. "We are. You, your dad, this baby and me? We're a family, Kara."

"Is your baby going to white like you?"

"That is something we have to wait and see," Max trailed off. "Does it matter what color they are?"

Kara shook her head. "Mommy? Do you ever feel weird because you look different from me and Daddy? I want the baby to look like you, so you don't. My friends say you're not my mommy because you're white, but I said that we love each other so you are. If your baby is white everyone will know you're the mommy."

Max hugged her again. "I never feel weird with you and your dad. As for the baby? We have to see. I think it's a girl, your dad is going with boy."

"Girl," Kara nodded, looking at her dad. "It's a girl, Daddy."

John stood stunned, as he watched Max and Kara. Where did that come from? "Nope, boy…and Max and me need to go to work, Kid. Grab your bag, we'll drop you at school."

* * *

 **In the Woods**

"Our war," he said, surveying his wife and children. "We are the only hope."

Kim stared at him, as she sat with the other wives, with a child in her lap. Running her tongue along her pointed teeth, she fought to stay passive as her reluctant acceptance of her new life as Elena fought with her old thoughts. Looking at the child in her pack marked arms, she still could still taste the raw meat she had eaten. Elena…I need to be Elena for him. Repopulate the world. Bring others to our home. Make them members of our pack…not my pack…no, it is now…no. I can't think…I'm not drugged anymore. My pack. My home. They made me feel that way when they marked me, I repeated it over and over…my pack. It hurts to think of it not being my pack

"We need more," he continued, looking at his wives. "More members of our family. It is time to expand, for the world to be ours."

"Yes, Master," they chorused.

"Elena," he said, beckoning her toward them. "Is our newest member. On your knees, Elena."

"Yes, Master," she said, bowing before him. "How may I serve you?"

"So very lovely," he smiled. "Undress for me."

* * *

 **Rome – Present**

"Max."

She looked up, keeping her face neutral at her very hungover partner. "I'm surprised to see you."

"You brought me home."

She nodded, as he just looked at her. "I did."

He stared at her for a long moment. Radiant, he thought, not showing yet, looking very wary of me right now. "I know what I said to you."

"You were drunk. Forget it."

"I don't want to forget it."

She froze at that. "No."

"Because of him."

She turned back to look at him. "This isn't some casual thing. Your girlfriend is missing. We're not having this conversation."

"My girlfriend didn't care enough to tell anyone about us."

"Max, Kenny."

Out of his mind, she thought, he didn't mean any of that. He doesn't love me. I'm marrying John, having his baby. It's what I want. Following her partner toward Jimmy's office. I can't deal with Kenny. Looking at Morell and John in there too, she forced herself to stay calm. He has is D.A. expression on, not the man who kissed me in the kitchen after Kara went to get her coat. Kara…how could she think I wouldn't love her?

"What happened to Kimberly, Deputy?" Morrell asked, looking at Kenny. "What really happened?"

"What?" Kenny asked. "She didn't show up."

He slammed the bagged pregnancy test on the desk. "We found this in her apartment. Your girlfriend was pregnant."


	5. Chapter 5

**Rome – Present**

"She was what?" Kenny said, as Max stared at him in shock. "Kim wasn't pregnant."

"She is pregnant," Morell repeated. "The test, she bought books on it, Kimberly Brock is pregnant."

"What?" Kenny said, looking at Max stepping back from him. "She would have told me…she isn't…no."

He said he loved me, Max thought numbly, that it should be us. No, no, no…He wouldn't. No. Never. He wouldn't hurt Kim because of that.

"You got my daughter pregnant."

She looked at a stoic John for a long moment before back at Kenny. Why is John looking at me like that? No, Kenny, he wouldn't. "Jimmy, he would never…You really think that?"

"Get out, Kenny," Jimmy said, looking back at her. "You're going to tell me everything, Max."

She looked back at her retreating partner. "Tell you what?"

"What were you two doing last night?" Morell asked.

"He was upset. We went out for drinks, well he drank, just talked. We went for a walk to sober him up…I drove him home and put him to bed on the couch."

"What did you talk about?"

"The case, Kim, how he was feeling," Max trailed off. Loves me, it should be us, no, he wouldn't ever. "Jimmy, Kenny would never hurt Kim."

"We bugged his place, Max, after we found the test."

She looked back at John, oh he's mad at me. "He was drunk. He didn't know what he was saying."

"He said he loved you, Max," John said finally. "That it should be the two of you."

"He was drunk," she repeated. "Very drunk."

"His pregnant girlfriend is missing," John said, fighting the urge to shake her. "You didn't say anything."

"John, he was drunk," she repeated. "Out of his mind drunk. He didn't kill Kim…certainly not because he…is that what you think?"

"Have the two of you been having an affair?" Morell asked.

"No. I'm marrying John…John, can you stop looking at me like that?"

"She isn't having an affair," he said finally. "Max let's get lunch."

* * *

 **In the Woods - Present**

Master will think it's his, Elena thought, it will be his. Our baby will be part of our pack, part of rebuilding humanity. Smiling, she stroked her belly, excited to bring their baby into this new world.

* * *

 **Rome – Present**

"It was drunk ramblings. Are you really mad at me?"

He turned to look at her. "Not about Kenny telling you he loved you. Max, that's been obvious for a long time. I know how you feel and I trust you. Him telling you that when Kim is missing? You didn't think it was important to the case?"

She let out a long breath at that and looked at him. "Maybe. I don't know. John, he wouldn't…She's pregnant? She's 19…she's in college. I'm barely ready for this, how can she be?"

He nodded. "She isn't ready any more than he is. You are going to be great."

Max looked at him for a long time. "Do you think…John it's Kenny."

"You know people snap."

My partner, best friend, who told me he loved me. He wouldn't… "I should have told you…as the D.A and my fiancé."

"As the D.A it could be important evidence. As your fiancé I don't like other men telling you that they love you and you should be with them. Max, I trust you, and I know you wouldn't…I love you. I'm ready to marry you and have this baby. You can tell me anything."

She looked at him for a long moment. "You're who I want to be with. Maybe, years ago, something could have happened with me and Kenny, but we were too afraid to really try. I moved on from that…and what we have? I never thought I feel this way about anyone. I want to be your wife, Kara's mom and have this baby with you."

"I am looking forward to making you Maxine Littleton."

"I'd elope with you this weekend."

He looked at her with that. "Really? I'm in if you are."

She nodded, as she shook his hand on it. "All in. Make me a Littleton."

* * *

 **Rome – Present**

"Max isn't having an affair with Kenny," Jimmy said. "She and John are very committed to each other. Kenny better not have been…he said he loved her. She bolted from him. Kim is pregnant, the bastard got her pregnant."

Morrell looked at him. "The deputy and the D.A? Another deputy and your daughter? This town. Everyone pregnant?"

"Kim is 19. She can't…He snuck around and…He killed," Jimmy trailed off. "We don't know…it could. My baby is having a baby. Kenny's baby."

* * *

 **Rome – Present**

"How many times?" John asked as she looked at her phone. "You can answer it."

Max looked up, feeling him studying her. "I don't want to talk to him, John."

"Maybe he's calling to tell you he loves you."

She shot him a look and fought to keep her temper in check. "What if he is?"

"Too bad for him."

"Are you mad at me?"

He looked at her. "Not at you."

At what Morrell wants me to do. Go along with him. Let him talk…let him think I want to have an affair. John should be mad. "I don't want to do it. We're supposed to elope in a few days. I bought a dress."

John held his hand out and she took it. Snuggling in close to him on the couch, she smiled slightly as he stroked her very start of her belly. "Marry me, Max, on Saturday…like we planned. Kenny doesn't need to know. Or maybe it will set him off. Marry me. Let's make this official."

She kissed him again. "Can we?"

"Kenny Lacos doesn't get a say in our wedding. I don't want to think he hurt Kim, Max, but what makes more sense? The secret boyfriend or an urban legend? Yes, we saw those kids, but…we don't know where they came from. Be his friend…do what Morrell wants. Don't make out with the guy. If you think he didn't do it, prove it. You ready, soon-to-be-Mrs.-Littleton? Answer it this time."

She nodded, as her phone rang again. "I'm more than ready. Hello?"

"Max, about time."

She snuggled in close to John, who wrapped his arms around her tightly. Oh, I do love this man. "I've been busy."

"I need to talk to you."

"You are."

"In person, Max. Is he there with you now? Is he listening?"

"John isn't my keeper."

"Max, I didn't kill her."

"I need some time with this. He heard you tell me that you loved me. Kenny, I…I don't how I feel about that."

"Max, I meant what I said. I know it complicates things. We can find Kim…then it's you and me."

She winced at that, as John squeezed her reassuringly. "I need some time to process it. It's complicated, there is John, Kara, I'm pregnant and engaged. Kim is missing and pregnant…we can't just. You know how it looks."

"Kim never wanted what I wanted. We can raise our kids together when we find her."

No, never, she thought, looking at John's hand on her stomach. He is who I want to have a family with. "We have to find her first."

"I'm suspended, Max. Off the case. I need your help with it. Littleton can't know."

She looked up at John, who didn't take his eyes off her. "I know he can't. He doesn't exactly trust me right now after I didn't tell him that you told me that you loved me. It's…it's not great with us right now."

"Tomorrow. Meet me at my apartment. We'll go hike the woods, see what we can find."

Max froze at that, intertwining her fingers with his. No. I don't want to go in there, urban legend or not, I shouldn't be alone with him. "I'm pregnant and spend half the day vomiting…I'm not exactly hiking in the woods ready."

"I'll take care of you."

She looked up at John again, who was shaking his head no at her. "I know you will. I'll see you tomorrow."

* * *

 **In the Woods**

Elena smiled as she sliced the deer open with her children. Provide for them, she thought, it is my duty to provide for them and my Master.

* * *

 **Rome – Present**

John who hugged me a long time this morning and told me if I was crazy enough to go in the woods with Kenny, to stay on the paths. Knock him out if he touched me. That he loves and trusts me…and not to make out with Kenny.

"You look good."

Max looked at him for a long moment, very aware of her cut-offs, old t-shirt and hair that had grown out over her pregnancy. I keep breaking hair ties, she thought, I can't deal with this mop on my head. This was the first morning I notice my stomach…a very slight curve to it that made John's eyes light up. Kenny is looking at my stomach too… "Thanks."

"Littleton know where you are?"

"He thinks I'm sick. He's in court all day."

"Max, I didn't kill her."

She held his gaze at that. "The FBI is combing the woods, they're flying drones over it…there is nothing there for us to search."

"Those kids."

"I know."

"They were pale, Max," he started. "Scary pale. They'll have her in a place where they can't see it from above."

She nodded at that. Play along. "Underground? A bunker…there is a cave system under the lake. They're going to search there too."

"They think I did it, Max. They aren't taking this angle seriously. We know it's what happened. Max, I'm heading out there. I want you with me."

"When?"

"Now. You and me."

"I can't just leave. I have a job, a family," she started. "It's not just me running off anymore. I know what you want from me, and…Kenny."

"I need to find Kim. Save her. Explain how we feel about each other. It's going to messy," he said, stroking her cheek. "Littleton isn't going to like it much. We're both having kids…Max, this can work."

"I'm going to break his heart."

"Will you come with me?"

"I don't want to hurt my baby by hiking caves. What can I do to help from here?"

"You think I would let you get hurt?"

Never, she thought, I trust him with my life. Or I did. "Stop touching me. I can't think when you touch me."

"Come with me."

"They'll see you in there. We can't go. We need to work from here. Figure out the cave systems. We'll find her, we just can't go in blind."

He looked at her for a long time with that. "We need to find her."

"We will. We need a plan though. You know they're watching you. I ducked them coming here…and I have to go to work."

"To help them railroad me. Your boyfriend think I killed her?"

"What he thinks doesn't matter. I need to go. Get the maps, make a plan…we can't go in blind," she said, as he pulled her to him. "What are you doing?"

"Don't go."

She shivered at his touch…three years ago…maybe. It's too late, way too late, I moved on. "I'll call you later."

He pulled her in. "I need you, Max."

John, she thought, as Kenny kissed her. I'm so sorry…kissing him back. Hmm…this is nice. No, stop…Pulling back, she fought to get control of herself. "I need to go."

"Don't go. Don't go back to him. God, Max, don't marry him."

Eloping, she thought, little lakeside ceremony with us and Kara on Saturday out of town. "I need to go. Now. Call me later."

* * *

 **In the Woods**

"Very nice, Elena," he smiled, examining her stomach. "You are with my child."

She nodded, as his hands explored her naked body more in the caves. "I'm so happy, Master."

"You are providing nicely for your pack."

"I belong with the pack and you," she said, as her inner Kim voice screamed against the thoughts and feelings of Elena. Drugs, those drugs made me believe this…Elena…They made me Elena. My family, Kenny, they won't know me like this…I'll hurt them as Elena. It hurts to fight this. "I'm so hungry."

He handed her the skinned squirrel and watched as she bared her teeth at it. "Eat."

Licking her fangs, she ignored her inner voice and ripped into her meal.

* * *

 **Rome**

"Caves?" Morrell said, as they studied the maps. "Do you believe him?"

"He believes it," Max said. "You think he did it?"

"There isn't any evidence."

Her burned car, tracks, Max thought, those kids. Him hitting on me while she's missing…kissing me. Telling me he loves me. No. Marrying John, having a baby and raising her and Kara together. "I really don't want to be alone with him."

"You need to get close to him."

She gulped at that. "I don't like him touching me. I don't want to go in the woods with him."

He kissed her again, John thought, she keeps swatting him away. "You're okay, Honey. Are we done for now? Come on, let's take a walk."

"Wait," Morrell said. "You two. He needs to think he's getting through to her."

"He's right," Max said, looking up at John. "We shouldn't…He needs to think I'm having doubts about us."

John just looked at her. Shaky, pale, trying not to cry. "My office then. We need a few minutes."

She nodded. "Okay."

* * *

 **Rome**

"There isn't any evidence. It's all circumstantial."

"Against Kenny and this urban legend."

"Tire tracks, her burned up car," Max trailed off. "I know she's pregnant, that they were in a secret relationship and now he's…I'm sorry. I don't want, like…the sudden of him telling me he…"

"That he loves you?"

She nodded. "I know what it looks like."

"He killed her, so he could be with you."

She winced at that. "He didn't. You know I…You know I don't want him?"

"Good because we're getting married and you're pregnant with our kid."

"I mean it. He keeps touching me, kissing me, telling me…I know Morrell wants me to use that and…I hate it. He's my friend, and I don't want to believe he hurt Kim but…Crap."

"Hormones?"

She wiped her tears. "I'm good. How can something so little do this to me?"

He suppressed a grin as she touched her very slight stomach. "Get it together."

"I want to find Kim…it just…how far am I supposed to take this?"

"Don't sleep with him."

"Are we," she started. "We're eloping in three days…Are we still? Can we with this? He's supposed to think that I'm going to leave you for him and I go and marry you?"

"You want to call it off?"

"No. I so want to be your wife."

"Postpone? Just not tell anyone until this is over? I want you to be my wife, Max. I want you to adopt Kara."

She looked at him with that. "What?"

"She thinks of you as her mom. We don't need papers to tell us that…I want you to be on paper too. I've been thinking about it for a while…what do you think?"

"Oh, I'm going to cry again. Yes, of course yes, John. And I want to marry you Saturday."

"It's a date, Honey."

* * *

 **Rome**

She's playing me, Kenny thought, watching as she walked with Littleton to his car, her hand interlocked with his. Smiling at Littleton, happy next to his side, her shirt catching on her developing belly, she's with him. Why is he always touching her? Why is she so happy with him? Max isn't this person…happy, engaged…Littleton kissing her by the car, opening the door for her…she's smiling at him. Laughing as he touched her stomach, like she's his. She's only with him because of the baby. We should raise our kids together, we can make it work, Kim never…I need to find her. Explain. Save her. Prove I didn't hurt her.

* * *

 **5 Years Later**

* * *

 **Rome**

"Ah!" Max laughed, as John wrapped his arms around her from behind. "This is cheating!"

"Too bad," he teased, nuzzling her neck. "Run, Gracie!"

Max giggled and leaned back into his arms as she watched their five-year old daughter run down the yard toward 11-year old Kara. "Are you letting them win?"

"Nah. I just wanted to grope you. I hardly see you lately."

"Hmm, I miss you."

Kids, work, life, John thought, looking at her. "Weekly date, Honey?"

"We need some alone time."

"That we do," he said, as two-year-old Noah chased after his sisters. "Five years, huh?"

She kissed him again at that, smiling as she did. It went so fast and…I love him more every day. I love our family. "It seems like just yesterday."

"And this?" he asked, squeezing her and feeling her stomach. "One more time."

She smiled at that, thinking of her third baby with him. "Last one."

"We did well with Gracie and Noah."

They are pretty perfect, she thought, I didn't know I would feel this way. The minute I held Gracie, stroked her tiny limbs, that little baby…who is five. Who is such a mix of us, all that caramel colored skin, dark curls, instant love when I inhaled her sweet scent…then Noah three years later. That beautiful boy, who looks so much like John. Those big dark eyes make melt. Kara is an amazing big sister, she's my daughter in every way that matters. I couldn't love her any more than I do. And this…surprise. "Should we wager on this one?"

"We're 1-1. Tie breaker, Honey. Girl or boy this time?"

"Hmm...I'll go with boy after picking girl twice."

"Dad," Kara groaned, watching them. "Can you stop kissing Mom? Seriously. It's all the time."

"I can't help it. Your mom is very kissable."

"Mom, come on," she sighed. "We're winning."

She smiled up at her sweet husband and ducked out of his arms. "Your daughter knows you too well."

"Game on, Honey," he teased, before freezing. "Agent Morrell."

He looked at the five of them in the back yard before back at Max. "Your children are growing up. There has been a development in the Kimberly Brock case, Sherriff."

* * *

 **In the Woods**

"You're Kimberly Brock."

Elena looked at her new sister. "My name is Elena. You are Lina."

She stared at her for a long moment. "No…you disappeared. Everyone thinks Kenny Lacos killed you because he was in love with his partner and you were pregnant. People thought that her and John's Littleton's kids would end up being his, but…they obviously aren't. Your family thinks you're dead."

Elena stroked her pregnant stomach, her fourth pregnancy in her five years. "You need to drink."

She shrunk back from her. "Please, Kim, I want to go home. We can…snap out of it."

"Lina," she sighed. "You belong to our Master and pack now. You are home."

"Kim!" Cynthia Parks screamed, as the others hauled her to her feet. "Help! Don't let them do this to me!"

"I'll see you soon, Lina."

* * *

 **Rome**

"That can't be real," Max said, as they watched the video play out on Morrell's tablet. "That's Kim."

Kim, John thought, in rags, obviously pregnant, with a band of women and kids dragging Cynthia Parks into their old van. Her hair, teeth, they're all covered in tattoos, the same ones on their arms and faces…What happened to her? "Where was this?"

"About 100 miles north of here. Cynthia Parks was touring colleges with her parents, she went for a walk and a jogger caught it on film. She's a senior in high school here."

"She's in Zach's class," Max trailed off. "She's alive. Kim is alive and…Oh, God. We had it all wrong. Kenny was right."

"Do you know where Deputy Lacos is?"

She shook her head. "He stopped talking to me after…He vanished from that hospital after the shooting."

Because he knew he was going to be arrested, John thought, we had enough circumstantial evidence and even know I'm not sure Max believes it. She was eight-months pregnant with Gracie then, pumping him for information, playing into his affair fantasies with her, when Jimmy shot him in his grief when we found Kim's blood in his apartment. Then he vanished from his hospital room…leaving Max with the fall out and her landslide victory as Sheriff. A job now that she doesn't really want…another conversation we need to have. I like her home with the kids if it's what she wants, ah Max, I know that look in your eye right now. A cop down to her bones and I love her for it. "He didn't kill her. Do we have a lead?"

"We have a team on the ground," Morrell said, looking at Max. "I thought you might like in."

She nodded. "I'm in."

"Max."

She turned and looked at him. My love, she thought, I'm a better person because of John. "Ah, crap. Right. Morrell, I'm pregnant."

"Congratulations," he said, looking at them. "The two of you are building a large family."

Max smiled at that, despite everything else. "No one knows yet. It's pretty new and…I can't go on a raid in the woods."

Not reckless, John thought, thinking before she acts. I know that look in her eye, she wants to go with him and… "What can we do on this end?"

* * *

 **In the Woods**

"Very lovely, Lina," Elena said, as she and Laila continued to braid and dreadlock her hair as Tati marked her. "You are our sister now."

"Kim, help."

Elena smiled, showing her the pointed teeth and fangs that helped her feed in the woods. "You don't need to be afraid. This is our home. You are safe here with us."

"You're a monster."

"I am a wife and mother. A bringer of the new world. You will be to."

"Drink, Lina," Tati said, forcing the drugged water down her throat. "You are home now."

* * *

 **Rome**

"What? Where are they?"

"Morrell wouldn't say," John said, looking at his wife. She wants to be there, it's all over her face but she chose her family and our kid she's cooking.

Jimmy sunk onto his couch at that. "Cynthia Parks? Kim, she was with them? She participated in a kidnapping? What happened to my little girl out there? Max why aren't you there?"

Tattooed, dirty, willing participant, he thought, she survived. "Uh, I'm pregnant, I couldn't. We don't know that she was a willing participant. She's been there…Whatever they did to her, she can…they'll find her."

"You're pregnant? Again?"

She nodded. "Yes, again. For the last time. I wasn't going on a raid in the woods."

Max and John's kids, Jimmy thought, the life they built. One shining good thing that came out of the last five years is them. Max, a wife, mother, sheriff, and even right now the two of them are so in sync together. "Congratulations. Kim's baby?"

Max gulped, as they sat in the Brock living room. "We have to wait. She…she's pregnant too. She looked pretty far along."

"What the hell happened to her?"

* * *

 **In the Woods**

Cynthia stood with Kim and gulped back her horror at what she was seeing. "What did you do to me?"

"You're one of us, Lina," Elena smiled, playing with her new hair. "You're part of our pack."

She touched her raw face tattoos. Like all of them… "Why did you do this?"

"You're my sister now. The Master is waiting for you."

She turned and looked at her. "I can't have his baby…I'm not…Kim, help me."

"Ssh. You will serve us well, Lina. The children need us."

Cynthia screamed, as the first explosion rocked the cave, and the rocks began to crumble.

* * *

 **Rome**

The job I always thought I wanted, Max thought, leaning back in her office chair. The one I only got because Jimmy was out of his mind when he shot Kenny…Kenny, where…I used him. I made him think, people thought Gracie was his until I had her. I got it all, the job, John, our kids, it's everything I ever wanted…Kenny. God. Kim. This destroyed the Brocks. Jimmy is lucky he's not it in jail. I'd do anything to protect my kids from this. "Morrell?"

"Sheriff," he said. "An explosion destroyed the caves."

Max looked up at that, her heart sinking at that. "What?"

"Solomon Whittaker had explosives buried in the woods. He destroyed everything, he took out 10 FBI agents, we rounded up a few stragglers, but."

"But Kim?"

"We're digging through the bodies."

* * *

 **TBC**


	6. Chapter 6

Final Chapter…. Short and Sweet…A possible sequel set up or a terrible cliffhanger ending.

* * *

 **Rome –**

I want to go home to my kids, Max thought, I'm such a sap about this. Read, play soccer, go to gymnastics and mommy-me stuff with Noah. After this case wraps…John said it was my choice. We spend so much on childcare and…Oh, I like being a mom. Focus, Max, focus. "That's…she wasn't there?"

"The bodies were burned. He had explosives buried in the caves and they," Morrell said, as they sat in her office. "He would have rather they be dead then brought back here. They were starting a new world."

Kim, she thought. "Kim and Kenny's baby?"

He shook his head. "Not yet. We have a dozen feral kids in custody."

She gulped at that. "A dozen?"

"He had at least 20 wives and over 100 kids with them."

Max stared at him with that. "How could no one know? It's an urban legend and…who was he?"

"He was a dentist who thought it was his job to save him and his family from the coming apocalypse. His wife, Tatiana, and him took their kids into those woods and started a new life there by kidnapping young girls and impregnating them."

Max sat back at that. "I read the case file about the fire and how…were they still there? His first wife and…He had four kids before?"

Morrell nodded. "Three sons and a daughter. The daughter was barely three months old, and the boys were three, five and eight. They were Cana, Samuel, Michael and Jonah."

"What…what did they do out there? Just…"

"He bred with them. With those caves destroyed, the kids can barely speak," he said. "We might never know."

* * *

 **In the Woods**

"That world is evil," Solomon said. "We will leave, start anew."

Elena nodded, cuddling their gathered children. "Yes, Master."

"We will gather our missing children, Elena. The warning received was a blessing."

She smiled at that, calming the youngest. "They will pay for their sins against us."

"Where will we go?" Laila asked, as they sat in the lowest and untouched bunker of their home, still with 65 of their children and nine of their sister wives. "They destroyed our home."

Solomon smiled at that. "We aren't the only pack. We will join the others. It is time for my other daughter and grandchildren to join us."'

* * *

 **Rome – 3 Months Later**

"You look good."

Max looked up at that. "Hi."

Jill smiled at her young friend, all of six months pregnant, holding Gracie's hand and looking radiantly happy, with her and Kara. "And hello, Gracie. You look more and more like your mom every day."

Gracie giggled at that. "Mommy is pretty. Daddy keeps kissing her and Kara thinks it's gross."

"Dad always kisses Mom when he thinks we're not looking," Kara stated. "They love each other, Gracie. I told Dad I was going to kiss boys and he said not under my roof."

Gracie giggled, and hugged her big sister. "Boys are gross."

She does look like Max, Jill thought, except with the darker skin and curly dark hair. That face is all her…Gracie is such a sweetheart. Kara is so grown up. They ran off, eloped, she completely took his name, and they became a family. "Where are your dad and Noah?"

"We're having girl time. Daddy took Noah for boy time."

"Very pretty," Jill smiled, looking at their painted nails before back at Max. Kim's baby would be the same age as Gracie. The baby that people speculated was Kenny's when she was pregnant with her…the baby that is so obviously John's. "We want to have you over."

Max nodded. "We should…probably before I pop here."

* * *

 **In the Woods**

So lovely, Solomon thought, watching from the edges. It is her time. She knows it too. It is time for Cana to come home after all she's done for us. We will save her and her children. She will take her mother's place with me. She is ready.

* * *

 **Rome**

"Last day?"

Max nodded, drinking the tea she wished was coffee. "My resignation is in. I'm going to grab the kids after and…we'll meet you for dinner?'"

He kissed her forehead with that. "It's a lot of changes for us."

She smiled up at him. "John, it's an amazing job offer for you. Oregon will be an adventure, a fresh start from this town for us and the kids. Being a stay at home mom is…it was never what I wanted when I was younger, but…I don't want strangers raising our kids. I want to be there for them."

"Get out of here, Sheriff."

* * *

 **In the Woods**

"This is all that is left?"

Solomon nodded. "It was detonated, Cana. You warned us they were coming."

"I couldn't let them find you, Father. Not after everything you did for me."

"It is time for you to join us."

She smiled at that, thinking of her family. "We're ready. I brought you supplies for the journey to our new home."

"Your children?"

"They'll adapt to our ways. They need to know their real family. Just like I did after you found me with those people. Mother sent me to people who never wanted or loved me. My home is with the pack."

The pack, the women Cana sent our way over the years. "Come, Cana."

She smiled, rubbing her pregnant stomach softly. "Tonight, Father, I'm getting my children from school and we'll join you. He won't even know we're gone until it's too late. We'll meet you in the usual spot after I take care of my husband."

"Lovely Cana," he smiled, stroking her long hair. So much like my original Tati before she sent Cana away. Cana who sent me Elena this time. Cana who made it look like her boyfriend killed her as revenge for breaking her heart. Cana who has a lovely family that will be part of the pack. Cana who brought the boyfriend to me, so we could dispose of him…and feed off him. Cana who is coming home. "Tonight."

Max smiled, as she kissed her father on the mouth. "Tonight, Master."

* * *

 **Rome –**

He is a good man, Max thought, watching John with the kids. He really is…and he never knew who I am. No one knows who I really am. The daughter of Solomon Whittaker, who was sent away by her mother to have a normal life. Adopted by the Stewart family who never loved me. Solomon found me, told me, I became his…finding him wives. Providing from the pack from the outside, worshipping my Master.

"Mommy look!" Gracie called, as she did a cartwheel.

"Amazing Kiddo," she called, sipping her wine. Kenny who never blinked when I started dating John, I thought he would. I thought he would fight for me, but instead he got Kimberly pregnant. How could he think I wouldn't know? She was easy to dispose of…and he had to pay for betraying me. Planting her blood and setting him up? I am happy with John, being Maxine Littleton is a role I love, I enjoy her and my kids. I can be better for them. For us. Smiling, she leaned back against John's chest, thinking of what she had done earlier. I'm free.

* * *

 **In the Woods**

Cana, Solomon thought, as he lay dying in the clearing. Cana did this. She poisoned us all. My own daughter chose sin over salvation and her family.

* * *

 **Rome**

Max stood in the clearing with Morrell and Jimmy Brock, looking at the sea of bodies. Keeping her stricken expression as she surveyed her dead father and siblings. I choose my new life. Cana Whittaker is dead, they think she was here. I'll be Maxine Littleton, happily married to John Littleton, and we have our own pack now. Looking at Jimmy kneeling over a dead Elena, she should have never had an affair with Kenny, she would still be alive if she hadn't. Father said she was a fine wife and adapted to their ways here very easily.

"Jimmy?"

"My little girl," he said, holding her tattooed hand. "He did this to her."

Max looked at the pack tattoos she would never have and Elena covered in filth. Pregnant like me. "He can't hurt her again. She's at peace."

He looked up at his former deputy. "If we had listened…"

"We couldn't have known."

I'll never forgive myself, Jimmy thought, finally standing to let them take the body away. "Keep your kids safe, Max."

She touched her distended stomach and thought of the three at home with John. "We will. We all need a fresh start."

"I thought Kenny killed her."

"He might…see the news. Come back. He's been exonerated, and no judge would prosecute him. Not after this. All he wanted to do was find her…he spent so much time in these woods searching…Oh, god, what if…he found her, or they found him and…Oh God."

"We don't know that."

They ate him, Max thought, they fed his flesh to the children, as they do with any outsider that found them. There is nothing to find. "Too many lives were lost. I want to hold my kids and never let go."

"Do it. You and John, take them, raise them," Jimmy said looking at her. "Be happy with them, Max."

She nodded, rubbing her belly. I'm Master now. No one will ever hurt my family.

* * *

 *****Possible sequel about Max vanishing with her kids forthcoming, a follow up to Living Without You and a canon story following Max/Kenny post series finale.**


End file.
